Palacio Nacional

Lonely Planet review

The National Palace is home to the offices of the president of Mexico, the Federal Treasury and dramatic murals by Diego Rivera. Above the central entrance hangs the 'Campana de Dolores', the bell rung in the town of Dolores Hidalgo by Padre Miguel Hidalgo in 1810 at the start of the Mexican War of Independence. The first palace on this spot was built by Aztec emperor Moctezuma II in the early 16th century, but Cortés destroyed it in 1521.

The Diego Rivera murals along the main staircase, painted between 1929 and 1935, depict Mexican civilization from the arrival of Quetzalcóatl (the Aztec plumed serpent god) up to the post-revolutionary period. The nine murals covering the north and east walls of the first level above the patio deal with indigenous life before the Conquest; Rivera's vision of Tenochtitlán is incredibly detailed.