Historic center of Mexico City

Mexico City, originally founded in 1325 as a settlement on a small island surrounded by a lake, was once the capital of the Aztec empire that controlled a large territory during the early 1500's. The Spanish came in 1519 and defeated them two years later. Unlike the aztec metropolis that was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521, the network of roads that led to the city and the channels were retained and the construction of a new city started immediately. The buildings, palaces, churches and missions that would make up the city were built by using the ruins of the aztec pyramids. Mexico city later became the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

The way of living in the city adopted a more normal course when the viceroyalty was established in 1535. Mexico city was a privileged place and became the most important settlement in the New World. The slow draining of Lake Texcoco and of the Valley of Mexico started in the sixteenth and finished in the twentieth century. Mexico City lost its original landscape when the lake that surrounded it was totally drained.

After Mexico's war for independence from Spain (1810-1821), Mexico city served as the headquartes of the new federal goverment and went through important changes. When the Revolution of 1910 finished, the city underwent numerous transformations. In the 1930's the goverment issued official documents and created laws that protected the historic area. Both authorities and cultural institutions and specialists realized that the Historic Centre of Mexico City must be preserved for future generations, however, the National Institute of Anthropology and History had to demolish 422 monuments in 1934 due to their unrepairable condition.

The Historic Centre of the city housed the public administration, the National University, financial activities, and private offices; such concentration was causing damage to the still standing old buildings. In addition, the continuous growth of the population represented another serious problem, therefore, nearby neighborhoods were founded. New avenues replaced the old streets to help reduce and relieve the trafic, however, the problem increased in 1979 and 1980 due to the creation of other main roads and an inner beltway.

In 1978 after the accidental discovery of a large sculpture and the ruins of a pyramid in the area, both built by the Aztec, the federal authorities upgraded the Historic Centre to a Zone of Historic Monuments. The Historic Centre of Mexico City has been protected by the goverment and has been under continuous repair and maintenance ever since.