Historic Center

Palace of the Counts of Santiago de Calimaya, built in 1536.

First hospital in Continental Americas, founded by Hernán Cortés in 1524. Still active as hospital.

Annex to the Hospital. Built in the very place where Moctezuma II met Hernán Cortés in 1519. The latter, its founder, is buried here.

Precursor of the Mexican Independence.

Austere modernist building (1941). It includes murals from José Clemente Orozco and Rafael Cauduro.

Church of the old Dominican college, founded in 1603..

Mexico’s main square and heart, since the founding of Tenochtitlan (1325). One of the largest in the world.

Since 1535, it houses the Mexico City government.

Dedicated in 1899 as El Centro Mercantil department store. In 1968 it was transformed into a hotel, considered the City’s best art nouveau example. The roofing is a beautiful stained glass from Tiffany in New York City.

Here, the Houses of Moctezuma were located, where Cortés and his men were lodged. Pawn house since 1775.

Located in a 18th-century house. Since 2002 it is devoted to expositions, concerts and workshops. The terrace has a restaurant-bar.

The largest and most important in the Americas. It took about 250 years (1565-1813) to be built. Completed by Manuel Tolsá.

The elaborate 18th-century baroque façades are noteworthy.

Built upon the Moctezuma Palace and the Palace of the Viceroys. Since the Independence, it is the official Seat of the Presidency. Within it there are important murals by Diego Rivera.

Established here in 1553. Today it is a study center of the National University of Mexico

Seat of Mexico City Archbishopric from 1554 to 1859. Today it houses de collection “Payment in Kind” of the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (Secretariat of the Treasury).

Part of the Viceregal Palace. Here, the first mint in the Americas was installed (1734). Emperor Maximilian opened here the first museum in 1865.

The first printing house in the Americas was installed here in 1536. Today it houses the Book Museum.

Installed in the old Amor de Dios (Love of God) Hospital. First arts academy in the Americas (1785). Today it is the School of Plastic Arts.

Part of the Conceptionist convent (1790).

Old cloister of the Santa Inés convent. It houses an important art collection donated by this painter, as well as many of his works.

Remains of the sacred temple of the Mexica, devoted to Huitzilopochtli (god of war) and Tláloc (god of the rainwater). Human sacrifices were performed here. Its base measured 100 x 80 meters (328 x 262 ft.), and was 33 meters (108 feet) tall. The Spanish conquistadores destroyed it in 1521.

In eight halls, many of the pieces found in the archaeological diggings since 1978 are displayed.

Former Santa Teresa la Antigua cloister. It was the Dentistry School, and UNAM’s Preparatory School # 2.

Harmonious group of a fountain and the monumental neo-classical 19th- century church.

Notably sunken church, built in 1783, with an elaborate churrigueresque baroque façade.

Old church of Discalced Carmelite nuns (1684). Beautiful 19th-century cupula and murals by Juan Cordero.

(18th century). Neoclassical palace made of quarry, by Tolsá, facing the Templo Mayor. Beneath the patio, pre-Hispanic remains were found.

Founded in 1588 by Jesuit priests. The current, monumental building dates from 1740. Important murals from Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros. Top-level cultural center, with international temporary

Important Jesuit school and seminary. Now it houses the Constitutions Museum.

Beautiful and traditional square, built upon the Cuauhtémoc palace. In the center, there is a statue of the Corregidora, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez. For many years, the portals housed the “evangelistas (public writers)”, and today there are printing presses.

(16th century). Part of the first Dominican convent in the New Spain and of the last of three ones built here (1736).

Part of the Dominican convent

Seat of the Court and Jail of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (1571-1820). School of Medicine (1854-1954). Today Museum of Medicine.

Built in 1731 to control New Spain’s trade operations. The staircase houses a Siqueiros mural.

House of Diego Pedraza, who was the first surgeon in the New Spain (16th century).

Old Incarnation Convent. Seat of the S.E.P. since 1922. Murals by Diego Rivera and Siqueiros.

Former church of St. Catherine of Sienna.

Surrounded by beautiful 18th- and 19th-century buildings, with the equestrian sculpture of King Charles IV of Spain, “El Caballito (the little horse)” in the center. It honors Manuel Tolsá, and important sculptor and architect, who cast the sculpture and designed the Palacio de Minería, across the street.

Old Communications Palace (1904-1911). Today it houses the most important collection of Mexican art.

Luxurious Porfirian building of Venetian neo-gothic style. Florentine marble and ironworks inside. The first floor houses a postal museum.

Tolsá’s neoclassical masterpiece (1813). It housed the Colegio de Minas and later the School of Engineering (1910-1954).

Entertaining space to know the history of money and the relationships of economics in everyday life.

Army museum.

(16th century). Currently the Library of the Congress.

Elegant 18th-century baroque mansion. It houses the offices of Mexico City Historic Center and Archives.

(1918). Once property of actress Esperanza Iris.

Old Iturbide Theater. Neoclassical building with elegant façade (1910). Seat of the Nation’s House of Representatives from 1874 to 1982.

(17th century). Colegio Seminario de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana and later Casa de Probación y Ejercicios; then Colegio San Juan de Letrán and, in 1770, Hospital General de San Andrés. Between 1931 and 2011 it was the Senate. Murals by Jorge González Camarena inside.

M(1934). Majestic concert hall in marble, in art nouveau and art deco styles (1904-1934). Excellent murals. Inside there are several exhibition halls and two museums.

The park was created in 1592 by viceroy Luis de Velasco. It is the City’s oldest public promenade. Originally it was planted with poplars (álamos in Spanish), hence the name. There are several fountains inside, as well as the Porfirian monument to Benito Juárez.

(1928). Art-deco-style building. Valuable collection of arts & crafts representing the country’s different ethnicities and regions: pottery, masks, cardboard, brass, wood carving, textiles and typical garments.

(1724). It was New Spain’s first convent exclusive for indigenous. Today it houses the Historical Archive of Notary Publics.

(18th century). Part of the namesake hospital, founded in 1582. The concave-façade church dates from 1766.

(1986). The most important in the country in applied arts. Furniture, silverware, pottery and tapestries donated by this German businessman.

19th-century house, housing the collection of engravings and picture cards of Mexican artists, as well as the art evolution.

(1568). Cozy square whose church, rebuilt in the 18th century, houses the remains of Manuel Tolsá.

(1988). Diego represented his historical vision in this 15-meter (49 ft.) mural, “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda” (1947). Originally located in a nearby hotel, which was destroyed by the 1985 earthquake.

San Diego former convent.

(1780). Old lodging house for Augustine friars on the way to their missions in the countryside.

Here, the chapel commemorating the Spanish defeat and later take of Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1521, was located. The Hospital, opened in 1777, was devoted to mentally insane men.

(18th century). Nice garden with a baroque-style church and a cemetery of important people, notably President Benito Juárez.

Part of the America’s largest convent, founded in 1525 by Franciscans, the first religious order arriving in the New Spain.

Built in late 19th century to honor the first Mexican saint and martyr (16th century), who is also the City’s Saint Patron.

(1956). Symbolic building. The City’s tallest from 1956 until the 1980s.

(18th century). House of the Count of the Orizaba Valley. Currently houses a department store and restaurant. The façades are covered with Talavera tiles from Puebla.

(18th century). Magnificent baroque-style building, occupied by Iturbide during the First Empire (1822-1823). Today it is the Banamex Cultural Center.

(1991). The only one in Mexico devoted to footwear.

(1775). Residence in the City of the richest miner in Taxco.

18th-century classical mansion.

(1720). Important Jesuit church. Here a conspiracy that ended in the Independence of Mexico was held. Magnificent colonial art gallery.

Old “La Esmeralda” jewelry store (19th century). Today, it houses the different collections of writer Carlos Monsiváis.

(1903). Palatial building, with an ornate façade decorated with coats of arms. The staircase and the salon are noteworthy, and inside there is an excellent restaurant.

17th-century baroque mansion.

Elegant late 19th-century building.

Institution created in 1530. It endured several modifications, being a theater at the end of the 19th century, and today it houses the Association of Bankers of Mexico.