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Polanco is a large residential area in Mexico City, centred on Chapultepec Park. Established by the Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl in the 15th century, the park is the largest green area in Mexico City. Together with the neighbourhood of Polanco, this is Mexico City's most exclusive area. This area boasts many notable museums, antique shops, luxury shopping, fine dining and nightlife, and upscale hotels, making it ideal for discovering contemporary Mexican culture. I invite you to take a walking tour of this neighbourhood and learn more about it. Let's begin with a visit to the Soumaya Museum.

Soumaya Museum

The Soumaya Museum was founded by Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico's richest man, and is named after his late wife, Soumaya Domit. Between 2010 and 2013, Forbes ranked Slim as the wealthiest man in the world. Slim knew that many citizens of his country could not afford to travel to Europe to see European art, so he decided to bring it to Mexico City instead. The museum was originally opened at Plaza Loreto in 1994 and is still operating today. However, in 2011, the main collection was moved to a new building in Plaza Carso.

This six-storey museum building is covered with 16,000 hexagonal aluminium tiles. The reflective features of the tiles give the building a different appearance depending on the weather, time of day, and the viewer's vantage point. The non-profit museum, which features more than 64,000 works of art, conducts research, conservation, and promotion of Mexican and European art through permanent, temporary, and travelling exhibitions.

The Soumaya Museum collection contains sculptures from Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, 19th- and 20th-century Mexican art, and an extensive collection of works by European old masters, including Lucas Cranachs, Tintoretto, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, and Murillo. Masters of modern Western art include Eduard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, and Auguste Rodin. The museum holds the largest collection of casts of sculptures by Auguste Rodin outside France.

Address: Boulevard Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 303, Granada, Miguel Hidalgo

If you are interested in modern art, visit the nearby Jumex Museum. It houses one of Latin America's largest private contemporary art collections, which includes works by Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Cy Twombly, and Damien Hirst.

After visiting the museum, continue your walk along F. C. de Cuernavaca Avenue and notice Mexico City Aquarium. Then take Plinio Street. After a while, turn left onto Horacio Avenue and meet the bear, Berlin's symbol, near the entrance of the Embassy of Germany.

Address: Horacio No. 1506, Col. Los Morales Sección Alameda, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo.

Then turn left again onto Sofocles Street and walk until you reach Presidente Masaryk Avenue. Even if you only walk a short part of it, you should know something about this street.

Presidente Masaryk Avenue

Presidente Masaryk Avenue, the main artery of Mexico City, is named after the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk. Some of the city's best high-rise hotels are located there. The avenue is also famous for its luxury shopping and dining. It is the most expensive street in all of Mexico and, together with Madero Avenue in the historic centre, has the highest rents in the city.

Then turn left onto Jorge Bernard Shaw Street until you reach Campos Eliseos Avenue and turn left again.

Campos Eliseos Avenue

Located in the Polanco area, this avenue, along with Presidente Masaryk Avenue and Moliere Avenue, is one of the city's most famous streets. It is a beautiful tree-lined avenue that houses many hotels and residences.

The Polanco River, which gives its name to this neighbourhood, used to flow along this avenue. To the west, it borders the Parque Libano (English: Lebanese Park), named for the Lebanese Embassy.

After a while, you will reach Paseo de la Reforma.

Paseo de la Reforma

The elegant Paseo de la Reforma surrounds Mexico City from west to northeast connecting the National Palace with Chapultepec Castle. The avenue was built during the reign of Emperor Maximilian, who ruled Mexico from 1864 to 1867. The major overhaul in 2003 converted Paseo de la Reforma into one of the major attractions of Mexico City and sent land prices skyrocketing, making it the most expensive area in Mexico City. Walk along Paseo de la Reforma and admire the monuments, murals, and statues. Very soon you will notice the National Auditorium building.

National Auditorium

Mexico City's National Auditorium is the leading performance stage in the country. With more than 9,000 seats, it is a very large venue. The auditorium hosted many artistic and cultural events, such as the 1968 Olympics gymnastics competitions, from the sixties through the eighties. It also served as a venue for trade fairs, political and social events, and international beauty pageants. After remodelling, the building reopened in 1991 with a new stage for concerts and events. The auditorium nowadays hosts dance and ballet events as well as musical, cinema, and opera performances. It also hosts photography, painting, sculpture, and popular art exhibitions. The auditorium is home to the OMAN, the Monumental Organ of the National Auditorium. With 15,633 pipes, this organ is believed to be the largest in Latin America.

Address: Av. Paseo de la Reforma 50, Polanco V Secc, Miguel Hidalgo.

After passing the National Auditorium, stop at the street market for some local food.

Also, notice the fascinating Korean Pavilion on your way.Soon you will reach Chapultepec Park.

Chapultepec Park

Chapultepec means 'Hill of the Grasshoppers' in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Chapultepec Park is the oldest and largest urban park in Latin America and one of the oldest urban parks in the world. Originally sited on the outskirts of the city, this extensive forested area is now surrounded by the urban environment.

Many public figures such as Nezahualcoyotl, Moctezuma, Hernan Cortes, Maximiliano, Porfirio Diaz, and Lazaro Cardenas are directly connected to Chapultepec Park. During the colonial period, Chapultepec Castle took shape in the park and served as the official residence of Mexican presidents until 1940. The park contains a range of superb museums, a zoo, and venues for artistic and cultural activities. Rowboat and paddle boat rentals are available on the artificial lake in the park.

Ninos Heroes Monument

At the entrance of Chapultepec Park is an imposing monument that honours six teenage Mexican military cadets who died defending Mexico when the US army laid siege to Chapultepec Castle in 1847. The monument serves as a tribute to the cadets of the Military College who gave their lives to defend Chapultepec Castle from the US invasion in 1847.

Chapultepec Castle

Construction of Chapultepec Castle began in 1785, but it became a castle only after Mexico gained independence. It was refurbished in 1864 and served as the home of Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg before becoming the residence of Mexico's presidents in 1882. It remains one of two imperial palaces in North America.

This castle witnessed one of the strangest political events of the 19th century when Archduke Maximilian of Austria acceded to the new imperial throne of Mexico in 1864. The emperor and his consort, together with their court, settled in Chapultepec Castle on the outskirts of the city. Architects were hired to renovate the 18th-century castle, and after the renovation, it was decorated with furniture and artworks from Europe. Just a few years later, after French troops withdrew from Mexico in 1867, he was defeated by the Republican forces of former President Juarez and was executed in 1867. The historic castle now hosts the National History Museum. Permanent collections include paintings, documents, technology, clothing, and furniture from multiple periods of Mexican history. The National Museum of History also hosts concerts, conferences, and performing arts events.

Practical information

The starting point of my walking tour was the Soumaya Museum, and I took an Uber to get there from the city centre as there was no metro station nearby. By the way, the famous National Museum of Anthropology is on the opposite side of Chapultepec Park. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to visit the museum, but you are very welcome to do so. You can take the metro from Chapultepec station at the end of your walk. Even though the tour length is about five kilometres (3.10 miles), it can take you a full day because of museum and attraction visits. I recommend that you also take a self-guided walking tour of the Mexico City centre.

The map of the Walking tour

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What did you think? Have you visited Mexico City? I would love to hear from you, so please add your comment below.

Author: Anita Sane

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Self-guided walking tour of the Polanco neighbourhood in Mexico City

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Polanco is a large residential area in Mexico City, centred on Chapultepec Park. Established by the Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl in the 15th century,...

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Inside Mexico City's proud, beautiful and boozy michelada culture

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In one Mexico City neighborhood-considered sketchy by most locals-micheladas rule. Jenny Harts head to Tepito for the Sunday street party,

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In the 1970s, before workers laid the asphalt that became a two-lane highway connecting Mexico City with Milpa Alta, the southernmost of the city's 16 delegations, Javier Galicia-Silva's grandmother would hike down the hills to Xochimilco each day at 04:00. From here she would take a chalupa (a large water taxi) along the ancient canals that lead towards downtown, where she'd spend the day selling fresh produce in the La Merced district near the grand Zócalo (historic centre). With a bit of money and some supplies loaded on her back, she'd return to the village around 20:00 in time to sleep and do the six-hour round trip all over again the next day.

Although farmers from Milpa Alta now make the trip by road, bringing nopal (an edible cactus), mole (a traditional Mexican sauce), honey and tortillas fresh from their homes and gardens to sell in markets and on street corners across the city, not much else has changed.

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Milpa Alta ('high cornfield' in Spanish) couldn't be more different from the smog-laden city to which it formally belongs and that it overlooks from its mountainside location. What used to be known as distant farmland and Nahua villages has slowly been ceded into the city. Although literally part of Mexico City, it's rarely visited by other Mexico City residents. Foreign tourists are even more unusual. And although it's officially within the city limits, the people of Milpa Alta in many ways live as they have done for hundreds of years.

Many people here speak Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec empire, and they still use the pre-Columbian milpa system of crop rotation. The delegation is approximately 50% forest, and the fields are mostly pesticide free, watered by the rain and ploughed by horses. Insects and various heirloom corns (including blue and red varieties) are still very much part of the diet in this municipality that produces a huge quantity of food for the city, just as it did for the inhabitants of Tenochtitlán (the ancient city of the Aztecs, now known as central Mexico City) more than 500 years ago. Of Mexico City's delegations, Milpa Alta is the greenest and least populated. It's a land of forests and fields, not of concrete shantytowns common among the city's sprawl.

Despite the relatively new road, getting to Milpa Alta still requires an effort. The congestion of Xochimilco, its neighbouring delegation, makes for a long bus ride from either the train station in Xochimilco or from Tasqueña, the city's southernmost subway station and transportation hub. When I visited, it was two hours of stop-and-go along one-way roads. The traffic out of Mexico City slowly lightened, the road began to switchback and the air cleared. The bus slowly emptied and the mountains that are often invisible from within the central city suddenly loomed above me. It was clear that I was headed somewhere else, a place somehow distant. When the complex, sweet scent of mole began to waft into the bus, the driver announced the stop for San Pedro Atocpan: the first of the 12 pueblos in Milpa Alta, and a world away from the urbanity of Mexico City.

Mornings are chilly in Milpa Alta, and Galicia-Silva, a Mesoamerican historian and professor, was wearing a red sweater and black beret when he opened the door to me and the silent street. He had just finished giving a free Nahuatl class to community members, which he hopes will help maintain the language of his ancestors. He spoke fast Spanish, smiled often and moved slowly, inviting me into his garden. When he talked of his grandparents and his hometown of Santa Ana Tlacotenco in Milpa Alta, it was with pride.

"I don't feel like I'm part of the city," he said as we ate fresh starfruit, guava and grapes from his land, moving our plastic chairs around to escape the gruelling summer sun. "The city begins in Xochimilco and goes northward. I am from Milpa Alta. If I come across someone else from Milpa Alta while I'm in the city, we ask each other when we're going back home. There is a brotherhood here."

Milpa Alta, with its ancient language and customs, has been self-sufficient for millennia. The forests are home to deer, rabbits and even hallucinogenic mushrooms that Galicia-Silva says can make you "go crazy" if not cooked properly. Many of Milpa Alta's inhabitants are in the business of making mole, and the region produces 90% of the mole consumed in Mexico City.

Mesoamerican traditions are still in practice, such as shaman-led temascals (an indigenous sweat bath held in an adobe hut, purported to have curative and spiritual properties), and locals boast that there are festivities in the delegation 365 days a year, including a summer festival in each of its 12 pueblos (villages). Most of these involve traditional dances, religious pilgrimages and mayordomías, the guarding of a religious icon in one's house and hosting a feast for the community.

Day of the Dead (1-2 November), a syncretised holiday blending both indigenous and Catholic traditions, is celebrated differently here from other parts of Mexico: villagers go to the cemetery on 29 September to formally invite the deceased to the homes of the living to feast, starting on 31 October. Without the invitation, they say the spirits won't join their families. When the holiday arrives, bonfires are set outside each home, around which the entire family gathers to eat tamales (a pre-Hispanic dish, made with corn masa and usually meat, then steamed in a corn husk).

As you walk the snaking, steep streets of the villages, you'll likely be invited in for a chat, some tangy pulque (fermented agave nectar), or a fresh tlacoyo (a corn masa tortilla filled with cheese, beans or meat and topped with nopal, cheese and salsa). The people here depend on each other, and everyone knows everyone's name. You'll hear Nahuatl words often, though the language's future has been uncertain for years.

"My grandmother was born in the 1920s and was monolingual in Nahuatl," Galicia-Silva said. "Her mother told her that she needed to teach her children to speak Spanish, not Nahuatl. My father was the last generation that learned Nahuatl in school. Nowadays, it is no longer the language of communication.

According to Galicia-Silva, groups of teachers and community members from Milpa Alta approached the city government in the 1980s, hoping to mandate teaching of Nahuatl in public schools. Officials responded that students should be learning Spanish as their native tongue, and English, French or German as a second language, to increase future job and education prospects. Throughout Mexico's colonised history, to speak an indigenous language has resulted in discrimination, still present to this day. Galicia-Silva remembers being asked at his university if he was an Indian. His father had always told him they were a family of farmers: the word 'Indian' never came up. Today he proudly identifies as indigenous; specifically, as Nahua.

And there are more stirrings of identity revival. Up the hill from Galicia-Silva's home is the house of artist José Ortiz Rivera, where he and Oswaldo Galicia Calderón, both Nahuatl professors, are giving another free Saturday class in Nahuatl to family members and neighbours. Their hope is to keep the language alive among the younger generations.

"My parents spoke Nahuatl and now they are gone," said Victor Ortiz, José's younger brother and a Milpa Alta native currently studying Nahuatl. His brother had spent more time with their Nahuatl-speaking parents and grandparents, and now he wants to learn it, too. "I feel like it's an obligation; to rescue my identity and belonging in this community," he told me.

Meanwhile, the delegation's population is growing quickly with people from outside the Nahua community, something that concerns Galicia-Silva when it comes to maintaining Milpa Alta's green spaces and ways of life.

"Whether we like it or not, we are in a globalised world and that's not going to change," he said, adding that rejuvenating indigenous language and culture can help to dismantle five centuries of oppression and exploitation. "This means that we have to do deep studies of our language and our history. When we talk about a decolonisation of our thinking, we are still far from that, but we are on the way there."

I left Milpa Alta with my belly filled and my heart warmed by the hospitality of strangers. As the bus clanked back to the city, I thought of the great strides Milpa Altans are making towards the reclaiming their identity; and how, despite being part of this bustling megalopolis, it still feels a world away.

Secret Worlds is a series from BBC Travel that invites you to explore the various ways destinations offer a sense of surprise by heading off the beaten path or uncovering hidden spaces.
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In Milpa Alta, people still speak the Aztec language

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Milpa Alta - which maintains traditions from its pre-Columbian past - feels like a tiny mountain village, making it hard to believe that it's part of Mexico City.

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DécouvreMilpa Alta en photos. Plus de8 images de Milpa Alta, des meilleurs lieux...

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The city has more than 1,400 tianguis - open-air markets that operate on certain days of the week - and many have been around for centuries. Professor Joseph Heathcott uses satellite images to highlight these unique spaces

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Mexico City's multicoloured markets from above - in pictures

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The city has more than 1,400 tianguis - open-air markets that operate on certain days of the week - and many have been around for centuries. Professor Joseph Heathcott uses satellite images to highlight these unique spaces

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Mexico City's Day of the Dead parade 2018 - in pictures

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The Mexican capital holds a parade and vigil in memory of the migrants who lost their lives in transit across Mexico en route to the US

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The Contemporary City at its Limits: Santa Fe, Mexico City – National Geographic Blog

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The Contemporary City at its Limits: Santa Fe, Mexico City – National Geographic Blog

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Santa Fe, located about a 12-mile drive (or somewhat risky walk) from the center of Mexico City, is, depending on your perspective, the metropolitan area's most modern district, or its most soulless. Set in the rolling hills west of the city, along the federal freeway to the nearby city of Toluca, it is tenuously connected to the older parts of the city by crowded buses sharing space with cars on boulevards that are ill-equipped to handle the number of commuters to the district.

Over 200,000 people work in Santa Fe daily, tens of thousands of students come to study at the universities in the area, and untold numbers have traditionally come to shop at the handful of large malls. While some people live in the gleaming new towers, for the vast majority of people, Santa Fe is a temporary stop in a necessarily long working day.

Developed atop a former sand mine (and later garbage dump), Santa Fe was aggressively developed in the eighties and nineties with the personal support of several heads of the Distrito Federal and the notoriously business and privatization-centric President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. It suffers not only from the above challenges of transportation, but, since it was built so quickly (and seemingly haphazardly) it lacks any sort of public parks, decent pedestrian paths, and adequate infrastructures for carrying water in and out of the area.

I've read that the Daimler-Chrysler headquarters in the area went without a connection to the municipal water supply for over ten years, and was forced to contract water delivered by trucks. This is the first, but by now means the last instance in which the business elite of the city here in Santa Fe are obligated to understand the material challenges of living at Mexico City's edge. They are unable to rely on the government for basic services, like millions of households in other hilly, inaccessible districts of the city.

Builders must contend with the challenges of building on a slope, though where poor neighborhoods would make do with a bit of moving earth around for their small concrete homes, in Santa Fe, the hillside is exploded, torn away, and replaced with a tower that rises from a ravine bottom to peek above the canyon lip.

Santa Fe testifies to the realities of expanding development in Mexico City, just as a government-funded housing project in the north of the city, or an informally built neighborhood in the east. And like each form of growth, it functions as a sort of an urban Rorschach test; in it, do you see a greedy capitalist system cashing in on a land grab, or a gleaming city provided jobs and modern conveniences to a city that too often lacks for both?

I'm not really sure what Santa Fe "means" yet, if indeed a district that hosts the lives of thousands and thousands of people can be reduced to a theme. (This is becoming a pattern). But I can share a bit of history, some thoughts, and some images here to start.

Though the buildings could be in any business district around the world, the tacos de canasta are pure Mexico City - Photo by Author, Click to Enlarge

As always, feel free to follow me on my instagram for more consistent photo updates, and leave a comment here with any thoughts.

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The Contemporary City at its Limits: Santa Fe, Mexico City - National Geographic Blog

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Santa Fe, located about a 12-mile drive (or somewhat risky walk) from the center of Mexico City, is, depending on your perspective, the metropolitan area's most modern district, or its most soulless.

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Iztapalapa: Mexico City's most densely populated suburb – in pictures | Cities | The Guardian

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Iztapalapa: Mexico City's most densely populated suburb – in pictures | Cities | The Guardian

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Iztapalapa: Mexico City's most densely populated suburb - in pictures

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More than a third of people live in poverty in Iztapalapa, and many lack access to clean drinking water. Photographer Santiago Arau offers two very different views of this sprawling suburb

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MEXIQUE, terre maya, côte caraïbe: Coyoacán et San Ángel, deux quartiers préservés de Mexico

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MEXIQUE, terre maya, côte caraïbe: Coyoacán et San Ángel, deux quartiers préservés de Mexico

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Aujourd'hui, nous nous rendons à une dizaine de kilomètres au sud du centre-ville pour visiter Coyoacán et de San Ángel. Peu de quartiers à Mexico possèdent une architecture des époques coloniale et pré-révolutionnaire aussi bien conservée.

Notre itinéraire suivra des rues pavées bordées d'arbres et de maisons coloniales, mais aussi de jolies places et d'autres monuments.

Nous prenons le métro jusqu'à l'arrêt " Miguel Ángel de Quevedo", puis nous remontons à pied quelques minutes vers le nord sur l' Avenida Universidad, jusqu'au croisement avec l' Avenida Francisco Sosa.

On ne peut pas rater la rue puisqu'à l'angle s'élève la Capilla de San Antonio Panzacola, rescapée du 17ème siècle.

Cette chapelle fut rattachée autrefois à la paroisse toute proche de San Sebastián Chimalistac.

Sa façade d'un rouge saisissant contraste avec les reliefs plus clairs.

Dans une niche au-dessus du portail se tient une sculpture de Saint-Antoine.

Nous nous enfonçons dans le quartier de Coyoacán après avoir passé un vieux pont en pierre au-dessus d'un affluent du Rio Magdalena dont les rives sont jonchées de détritus :-(

A l'époque pré-hispanique, Coyoacán n'était qu'un village au bord du lac Texcoco et était relié à l'île de Tenochtitlan par une chaussée.

Pendant la reconstruction de Mexico après la conquête espagnole, Cortés et ses hommes s'y installèrent.

Coyoacán resta paisible jusqu'au début du 20ème siècle, puis avec l'explosion démographique qui s'ensuivit, il fut rattaché à la tentaculaire capitale et devint un de ses faubourgs ( colonias en espagnol).

On poursuit notre remontée dans le temps dans une des plus belles rues de la ville. L'avenue Francisco Sosa, une des plus anciennes rues coloniales d'Amérique Latine.

Sur toute sa longueur (1,5 km), cette rue est bordée de magnifiques demeures historiques bâties par de riches familles coloniales à partir du 17ème siècle. Grandes portes en bois sculpté, grille de fenêtres en fer forgé, murs colorés sous les bougainvilliers.

A mi-chemin, on arrive sur la charmante Plaza Santa Catarina avec son église peinte en jaune
façade à 3 arches

En face se trouve la Casa de Cultura Jes ús Reyes Heroles, centre des arts de l'université avec son beau jardin ombragé.

La Pierre du Soleil, souvent appelée abusivement calendrier aztèqueou au contraire de manière plus exacte cuauhxicalli, est une des œuvres les plus célèbres et emblématiques de l'art aztèque.

Continuons notre promenade coloniale...

Nous arrivons devant les deux arches du portail du couvent de San Juan Bautista qui marquent une des extrémités de l' Avenida Sosa et l'entrée de l'agréable Jardín del Centenario.

Nous voilà maintenant au cœur du quartier de Coyoacán !

Son ambiance bohème et intello continue à attirer artistes et journalistes mexicains. Écrivains et peintres ont préféré la tranquillité de ces quartiers coloniaux à l'agitation du centre-ville.

Coyoacán a attiré des figures célèbres telles que Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera et leur ami révolutionnaire russe Léon Trotski qui y fut assassiné en 1940. Leur maison sont aujourd'hui des musées.

Le Zócalo du quartier est formé à l'ouest par le Jard í n del Centenario, construit sur un ancien cimetière, et la Plaza Hidalgo à l'est avec son kiosque à musique. Cette dernière est bordée par le Palais de Cortés.

Entre les deux places se dresse l'église San Juan Bautista depuis le 16ème, mais il ne reste pas grand chose de sa construction d'origine, sauf la façade et l'arcade des pèlerins. Les vitraux illuminant la nef à l'intérieur représentent des saints franciscains.

Le Jard í n del Centenario couvre l'atrium de cet ancien couvent partiellement disparu dont seule l'église subsiste.

En nahuatl, Coyoacan peut se traduire par " le lieu des coyotes".

C'est pour cette raison qu'on en trouve ornant la fontaine centrale du Jard í n del Centenario ou au-dessus du Palacio de Cortés.

Cortés installa son QG dans ce palais du 15ème qui porte aujourd'hui son nom. Cette construction en brique rouge abrite maintenant la mairie du quartier et l'office de tourisme.

C'est ici que Cortés et ses hommes torturèrent en vain l'empereur Cuauhtémoc afin de lui soutirer des informations sur l'emplacement du grand trésor aztèque.

Lorsqu'il découvrit le trésor en 1522, Cortés envoya tout ça sur bateaux partant pour l'Espagne. Mais la cargaison fut interceptée par les français qui mirent aussi la main sur des cartes maritimes des Antilles. C'est comme ça que la Guadeloupe et la Martinique furent françaises !

La Casa de Diego de Ordaz, doit son nom au conquistador. Cette maison date du 18ème siècle, soit deux siècles après qu'il ait existé. La niche décorée abrite une vierge.

Nombreux cafés, restaurants, pâtisseries et boutiques de spécialités entourent ce Zócalo. On y trouve aussi un marché d'artisanat et des glaciers car le quartier est réputé pour ses crèmes glacées.

On prend la rue Higuera qui part derrière l'église San Juan Bautista pour rejoindre la Plaza de la Conchita (officiellement connue sous le nom de Plaza de la Concepci ó n).

Celle-ci est moins fréquentée que le Jard í n del Centenario. Avec sa croix de pierre en son centre, c'est en effet une place très tranquille où le charme colonial opère.

Au fond de la place siège la Capilla de la Concepción qui est un des édifices préférés des jeunes mariés. Cette chapelle baroque qui tient debout par l'opération du Saint-Esprit ! :-) présente une façade finement ciselée de style mudéjar.

D'après la légende, Cortés aurait installé La Malinche, son interprète aztèque et aussi maîtresse et mère de son fils Martín dans cette maison rouge à deux étages sur la Plaza de la Conchita.

Appelée Malintzin en nahuatl et Dona Marina par les Espagnols, cette femme aurait été vendue comme esclave à des nobles qui l'offrirent à Cortés. Elle aurait été conseillère et même stratège militaire du côté des conquistadors, trahissant ainsi son peuple.

Aujourd'hui, le terme " malinchista" désigne quelqu'un de peu loyal et peu patriotique.

Mais d'après d'autres rumeurs, cette bâtisse aurait été construite pour Itxolinque, un chef local.

Le Parc de Frida Kahlo rend hommage à la célèbre artiste peintre qui est née ici et y a passé la majorité de sa douloureuse vie.

On peut y observer une sculpture en bronze représentant Frida Kahlo vêtue du costume régional des Tehuanas, ainsi que de nombreux arbustes et haies taillés en forme d'animaux.

On rebrousse alors chemin pour remonter l'Avenida Francisco Sosa, mais en sens inverse cette fois... ça fait des kilomètres dans les pattes, mais ce quartier est tellement plaisant...

On arrive à nouveau au croisement où trône la Capilla de San Antonio Panzacola, mais là on prend tout droit vers la calle Arenal. On traverse le Parque Tagle avant d'arriver sur la Plaza Chimalistac (officiellement Plaza Federico Gamboa).

On se trouve alors devant la petite chapelle de San Sebasti án Chimalistac, une des rares chapelles ouvertes de Mexico. Au centre de la place, la croix de l'atrium rappelle le temps où on y célébrait la messe en plein air.

On poursuit la balade par le Jard í n de la Bombilla avec ses allées de saules, de pins, de frênes et d'avocatiers. Au milieu de ce petit parc surgit le très imposant monument au Général Álvaro Obregón. Cet homme politique mexicain fut assassiné juste à côté avant son second mandat en 1928.

L'obélisque pas très beau, datant de 1935, est orné de sculpture en granit d'un style "à la communiste".

Nous nous trouvons en plein cœur du quartier de Chimalistac.

On traverse ensuite tant bien que mal la large et très fréquentée Avenida de los Insurgentes, une des plus longue avenue du monde avec ses 29 km traversant la capitale du nord au sud.

On aperçoit les 3 dômes en céramique du Museo del Carmen, qui sont l'emblème du quartier San Ángel.

Il s'agit de l'ancienne église d'un couvent carmélite du début du 17ème siècle du nom de San Ángelo Mártir qui a donné son nom au quartier. Ses somptueuses coupoles sont ornées de faïences de Talavera.

Tout comme Coyoacán, San Ángel possède un charme bien particulier dû en partie à son passé colonial. Au 16ème siècle, c'était un petit village répondant au nom de Tenanitla. Il connut le même sort que son voisin et fut englouti dans la mégalopole de Mexico.

C'est aujourd'hui un quartier résidentiel de la bourgeoisie mexicaine.

Nous atteignons l'étape finale de cette promenade matinale, la Plaza San Jacinto. Nous sommes samedi, jour où s'installe un grand marché dans une belle maison du 17ème.

Le Bazar del Sabado dévoile ses étals en plein air, remplis d'objets de l'artisanat mexicain. Il déborde sur les jolies places adjacentes où on trouve des souvenirs pas trop chers.

A l'image du Jardín del Centenario de Coyoacán, la Plaza San Jacinto à San Ángel est renommée pour sa foire d'artisanat du weekend.

Le métro est plutôt sûr, pratique et propre, et surtout peu cher (environ 0,20 €). C'est le troisième réseau au niveau mondial.

Chaque station est représentée par un idéogramme unique pour la population partiellement illettrés (par exemple, on peut voir un coyote pour l'arrêt "Coyoacan" ou une espèce de guêpe pour un autre arrêt ou encore la forme d'un monument,...).

Vendeurs de bonbons, de CD et autres breloques sillonnent les métros à la recherche d'acheteurs potentiels.

Petite anecdote :
Le métro fut développé avec l'expertise d'une société française filiale de la RATP (gestionnaire du métro de Paris), ce qui explique le choix du métro sur pneumatiques.

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Coyoacán et San Ángel, deux quartiers préservés de Mexico

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Aujourd'hui, nous nous rendons à une dizaine de kilomètres au sud du centre-ville pour visiter Coyoacán et de San Ángel. Peu de quartiers à Mexico possèdent une architecture des époques coloniale et pré-révolutionnaire aussi bien conservée. Notre itinéraire suivra des rues pavées bordées d'arbres et de maisons coloniales, mais aussi de jolies places et d'autres monuments.

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Chinampas, the floating gardens of a sinking city - Field Study of the World

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Chinampas, the floating gardens of a sinking city - Field Study of the World

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Anyone wanting to escape the crowds and noise of Mexico City should visit Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City known for its canals. Both locals and tourists come to Xochimilco to ride in colorful boats and to enjoy the atmosphere that is far removed from the rest of the busy metropolis. I also visited Xochimilco during my stay in Mexico City, but my motives were somewhat different. What I wanted to see were the chinampas, the Pre-Columbian agricultural islands built by the Aztecs.

Mexico City is built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztec empire. The Aztecs founded their capital in 1325 on a lake due to a prophecy that stated that the city should be founded on the spot where an eagle would be perched on top of a cactus eating a snake. In order to live on the lake, the Aztecs built a vast network of canals and artificial island. Among these artificial islands were the chinampas which were used for agriculture, providing high yields and feeding the growing population. Modern Mexico City has inherited this foundation of artificial islands, but as the city has grown and the canals have been filled to build roads, the lakebed foundation has become forgotten, leading to overuse of groundwater, collapsing of the ground and sinking of the city.

The construction and use of chinampas

The technology of chinampas was developed in Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, but the Aztecs were the ones to adopt it at a huge scale. Despite the common misuse of the term "floating gardens" - which I am also guilty of - chinampas are not actually floating. Chinampas are constructed by first creating an enclosure on the lake with wooden stakes. This enclosure is then filled with alternating layers of mud and decaying vegetation until solid land above the water level is formed. In this way an artificial island is formed, and trees are planted on the edges because the roots of the trees help prevent erosion.

The mixture of mud and vegetation makes the soil very fertile and is one reason why the chinampas are extremely productive. The water in the canals also contains fish, which not only provide more food but also add nitrogen-rich manure to the water, which in turn fertilizes the plants. No irrigation is generally needed as the plants absorb water directly from the canals, while overuse of water is prevented as the plants only absorb the water they need. The system is also resistant to droughts and floods. In these respects the chinampas are very similar to the equally productive - and actually floating - gardens of Inle Lake in Myanmar.

The chinampas that are used today function slightly differently, and for example the use of greenhouses is common. Moreover, instead of food production, today the chinampas of Xochimilco are mostly used to grow flowers which Xochimilco is famous for. Indeed, even the Aztecs grew flowers in Xochimilco, and Xochimilco translates from Nahuatl as "the garden of flowers". However, because the chinampas are so productive, they are also good for small scale agriculture, and I did see some people growing corn for their own use.

The network of canals and chinampas at Xochimilco today is just a glimpse of what it used to be. Urban sprawl, climate change, pesticides, pollution and neglect are all contributing to the slow destruction of the chinampas. During my visit I found out that another threat is the spread of invasive water hyacinths, the same plant that I've also seen cause problems at Lake Victoria in East Africa.

From a floating city to a sinking city

The Aztecs were great engineers, which made it possible for them to build their capital on a lake. The canals and chinampas of Xochimilco are just a small fraction of the original network of canals and artificial islands that spanned the city and its surroundings. The canals were connected to a system of dams, levees and aqueducts that together helped provide the people with water while controlling water levels in the canals. Along with the chinampas, the Aztecs also used terraces and irrigation channels in order to produce enough food. Thanks to these technologies, the Aztecs managed to live on a lake with Tenochtitlan supporting a population of over 200,000 people.

But the Aztecs could't have dreamt that a few centuries later a metropolis of 20 million people would lie on this same foundation. After the Spanish arrived, the canals were drained, and the ground became seemingly solid but a former lakebed could never be truly solid. When the system of aqueducts and canals was gone, Mexico City started withdrawing its groundwater and this is when problems started. Groundwater is being drawn from the aquifers below the city at a faster rate than they are naturally replenished, which is causing the ground to settle. Because of this buildings are leaning and cracking as the ground below them sinks.

In this context, the canals and chinampas of Xochimilco serve as a reminder of the city's past. Just like the Aztecs used different technologies to provide their capital with water, so should modern Mexico City look for alternatives to groundwater use, combining old knowledge and new technologies.

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Chinampas, the floating gardens of a sinking city

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Anyone wanting to escape the crowds and noise of Mexico City should visit Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City known for its canals. Both locals and tourists come to Xochimilco to ride in colorful boats and to enjoy the atmosphere that is far removed from the rest of the busy metropolis.

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Centre historique de Mexico et Xochimilco - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

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Centre historique de Mexico et Xochimilco - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

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Valeur universelle exceptionnelle

Les Aztèques ont construit ce qui devait devenir la capitale de leur empire sur une petite île du lac Texcoco, dans la vallée de Mexico. Des témoignages de l'époque de l'arrivée des conquérants espagnols à Tenochtitlan, capitale de l'empire aztèque, évoquent l'existence du grand lac couvert d'une multitude de pirogues et la ville insulaire avec ses nombreux oratoires en forme de tours et de forteresses éblouissantes de blancheur. Les conquérants espagnols détruisirent la ville insulaire de Tenochtitlan et commencèrent à assécher le lac qui l'entoure.

Ils construisirent la capitale de la Nouvelle-Espagne, Mexico, la " ville des palais ", sur les ruines de la cité préhispanique, selon un modèle européen légèrement modifié par l'intervention d'artisans et d'ouvriers autochtones, et influencé par les canaux et les rivières qui avaient structuré la ville préhispanique. Le Mexique indépendant a maintenu sa capitale au même endroit et a ajouté ses influences stylistiques au palimpseste architectonique qui subsiste aujourd'hui.

Du XIVe au XIXe siècle, Tenochtitlan, puis Mexico, ont exercé une influence décisive sur le développement de l'architecture, des arts monumentaux et de l'utilisation de l'espace, tout d'abord sous l'empire aztèque, puis en Nouvelle-Espagne. L'ensemble monumental du Templo Mayor (Temple principal) témoigne de manière exceptionnelle des cultes d'une civilisation disparue, tandis que la cathédrale et le Palais des Beaux-Arts sont des exemples d'architecture coloniale et de la fin du XIXe siècle. La capitale de la Nouvelle-Espagne, caractérisée par son plan en damier, l'espacement régulier de ses places et de ses rues et la splendeur de son architecture, constitue un exemple fondamental d'établissements espagnols du Nouveau Monde. Les monuments, groupes d'édifices ou sites actuellement au cœur de l'immense agglomération d'aujourd'hui illustrent dans une large mesure les origines et la croissance de cette ville qui a dominé la région pendant plusieurs siècles.

Le paysage lacustre de Xochimilco, à 28 km au sud de la ville, est le seul vestige conservé d'aménagement traditionnel préhispanique du territoire dans les lagunes du bassin de Mexico. Au milieu d'un réseau de petits canaux, sur les bords du lac résiduel de Xochimilco (partie sud du grand lac asséché de Texcoco), on voit encore quelques jardins flottants, les chinampas. Certaines parties de ce paysage à la fois naturel et artificiel constituent aujourd'hui une " réserve écologique ".

Critère (ii) : Du XIVe au XIXe siècle, Tenochtitlan, puis Mexico, ont exercé une influence décisive sur le développement de l'architecture, des arts monumentaux et de l'organisation de l'espace, dans le royaume aztèque, puis en Nouvelle-Espagne.

Critère (iii) : Avec les restes des cinq temples antérieurs à la grande pyramide et surtout l'énorme monolithe de Coyolxauhqui, symbolisant la fin de l'ancienne cosmogonie et l'avènement de Huitzilopochtli, divinité tribale des Aztèques, l'ensemble monumental du Templo Mayor apporte un témoignage exceptionnel sur les cultes d'une civilisation disparue.

Critère (iv) : La capitale de la Nouvelle-Espagne, caractérisée par son plan en damier, l'ordonnance régulière de ses places et de ses rues, la splendeur de son architecture religieuse (Cathédrale, Santo Domingo, San Francisco, San Jeronimo, etc.) et civile (Palais du Marquis de Jaral de Berrio) est un exemple éminent des fondations espagnoles du Nouveau Monde.

Critère (v) : Devenu vulnérable sous l'effet des changements environnementaux, le paysage lacustre de Xochimilco constitue le seul témoin de l'occupation traditionnelle du territoire dans les lagunes du bassin de Mexico avant la conquête espagnole.
Intégrité
Au-delà du centre historique, l'expansion urbaine de la zone métropolitaine contemporaine de Mexico a maintenant largement dépassé l'île qu'occupait autrefois la capitale, remplissant toute la vallée et engloutissant totalement les vestiges des chinampas de Xochimilco.

Le changement a été et reste une part importante de l'histoire des deux aires patrimoniales. Tous ces changements n'ont cependant affecté ni leur structure d'ensemble ni leur intégrité fonctionnelle, c'est-à-dire le rôle politique, économique et religieux central du Centre historique de Mexico, et le système traditionnel de production agricole de Xochimilco. Dans ces deux aires culturelles, le passé et le présent sont constamment et simultanément visibles. Les dernières trouvailles archéologiques autour du Templo Mayor (le plus grand temple aztèque) dans le centre historique de Mexico contribuent encore à la compréhension de la ville préhispanique.

L'intégrité du Centre historique de Mexico City et de Xochimilco est toutefois menacée par les conditions géologiques de l'endroit. D'autres menaces proviennent des pressions du développement, des modifications de l'aménagement du territoire, de l'abandon et de la contamination. Malgré ces menaces, le bien conserve tous les éléments incarnant sa valeur universelle exceptionnelle et témoigne des différents stades de son développement, en particulier de la convergence de cultures depuis presque sept siècles.
Authenticité
Les conditions d'authenticité du Centre historique de Mexico sont largement remplies car la conception, les matériaux, l'exécution et les relations entre le paysage et les édifices patrimoniaux - représentatifs de diverses périodes, influences et styles architecturaux - sont soit originaux soit maintenus à un degré leur permettant de garder une cohérence matérielle et structurelle. En outre, le plan urbain en damier continue à suivre le modèle colonial, lui-même fondé sur la structure de la capitale aztèque, ce qui garantit le maintien de ce plan au fil du temps. L'utilisation et la fonction sont maintenues, bien que ces conditions soient menacées par le déclin de l'utilisation de bâtiments historiques en tant qu'habitations et autres usages qui risquent de compromettre les attributs recensés. Pour maintenir ces conditions d'authenticité, il est mis en œuvre des mesures réglementaires et une protection des mécanismes administratifs pour assurer le maintien de l'utilisation, de la fonction et du caractère du centre historique malgré son évolution. Des politiques générales d'urbanisme permettent peu à peu de mettre fin à l'abandon du site et à le redynamiser.

Les chinampas sont un système agricole exceptionnel fondé sur l'association de facteurs environnementaux et de créativité humaine. Les îles construites par les hommes dans le lac peu profond représentent l'un des systèmes agricoles les plus productifs et les plus durables au monde. Cette productivité, en nombre de récoltes annuelles produites par les chinampas et en efficacité par unité de zone semée, explique que ce système de travail intensif ait pu survivre à travers les siècles. Le système des chinampas est extrêmement menacé par l'introduction de nouvelles techniques agricoles, une extraction excessive de l'eau des nappes phréatiques de la région, l'abandon, les pressions du développement et la contamination. Il convient de mettre en œuvre des politiques générales de conservation durable et de gestion pour veiller à ce que le système des chinampas ne soit plus menacé de disparition.
Eléments requis en matière de protection et de gestion
Au Mexique, les autorités fédérales, de l'État et locales coopèrent pour identifier, protéger, restaurer et transmettre le patrimoine aux nouvelles générations. Pour le Centre historique de Mexico, la responsabilité au niveau fédéral incombe à l'Institut national d'Anthropologie et d'Histoire (INAH) et à l'Institut national des Beaux-Arts (INBA) ; cette responsabilité est partagée avec les autorités municipales et du district. L' Autoridad del Centro Histórico (Autorité du Centre historique) et le Fideicomiso Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México (Fonds fiduciaire du Centre historique) ont été créés pour soutenir les activités de conservation et de gestion dans le Centre historique.

Xochimilco fait partie d'un site culturel du patrimoine mondial mais, au niveau national, c'est aussi une aire naturelle protégée exigeant l'engagement de gestion du Ministère de l'Environnement qui agit via la Commission des Ressources naturelles du Gouvernement du district fédéral.

Les deux aires possèdent des plans de gestion. Une mise en œuvre durable des outils de planification définis et l'affectation de ressources à la conservation et à la gestion sont des moyens nécessaires pour assurer la préservation à long terme de la valeur universelle exceptionnelle du bien. Dans le cas de Xochimilco, les autorités municipales de la Ville de Mexico ont publié le 11 décembre 2012 un décret " portant création de l'Autorité responsable de la zone de patrimoine culturel et naturel de l'humanité de Xochimilco, Tlahuac et Milpa Alta ". Le site fait l'objet d'une analyse approfondie pour définir les priorités d'actions en gestion, conservation et régénération des eaux des sources et canaux, restauration de la zone des chinampas et des terres adjacentes aux plans d'eau, et protection de la zone de monuments historiques, en étudiant la participation des parties prenantes aux aspects sociaux, culturels, écologiques et universitaires.

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Centre historique de Mexico et Xochimilco

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Valeur universelle exceptionnelle Les Aztèques ont construit ce qui devait devenir la capitale de leur empire sur une petite île du lac Texcoco, dans la vallée de Mexico. Des témoignages de l'époque de l'arrivée des conquérants espagnols à Tenochtitlan, capitale de l'empire aztèque, évoquent l'existence du grand lac couvert d'une multitude de pirogues et la ville insulaire avec ses nombreux oratoires en forme de tours et de forteresses éblouissantes de blancheur.