Monument sights in Mexico City
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A
Lotería Nacional
Mexico's lottery is a national passion, and the tall art deco tower on the west side of Paseo de la Reforma opposite Av Juárez is the game's headquarters. Walk into the building and up the stairs almost any Sunday, Tuesday or Friday after 19:30, take a seat in the cozy auditorium, and at exactly 20:00 the sorteo (the ceremony of picking the winning numbers) begins. Cylindrical cages spew out numbered wooden balls, which are plucked out by uniformed pages who announce the winning numbers and amounts.
The tall art deco tower on the west side of Paseo de la Reforma opposite Avenida Juárez is the headquarters of a Mexican passion: the Lotería Nacional (National Lottery). Eac…
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B
Monumento A Los Niños Héroes
The six marble columns marking the eastern entrance to the park, near Chapultepec metro, commemorate the 'boy heroes,' six brave cadets who perished in battle. On September 13, 1847, more than 8000American troops stormed Chapultepec Castle, which then housed the national military academy. Mexican General Santa Anna retreated before the onslaught, excusing the cadets from fighting, but the youths, aged 13 to 20, chose to defend the castle.
Legend has it that one of them, Juan Escutia, wrapped himself in a Mexican flag and leapt to his death rather than surrender.
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C
Monumento A La Revolución
Begun in the 1900s under Porfirio Díaz, the Monument to the Revolution was originally meant to be a meeting chamber for legislators. But construction (not to mention Díaz' presidency) was interrupted by the Revolution. The structure was modified and given a new role in the 1930s: the tombs of the revolutionary and postrevolutionary heroes Pancho Villa, Francisco Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Plutarco Elías Calles and Lázaro Cárdenas are inside its wide pillars.
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D
La Diana Cazadora
At Reforma's intersection with Sevilla is the monument commonly known as La Diana Cazadora (Diana the Huntress), a 1942 bronze sculpture actually meant to represent the Archer of the North Star. The League of Decency under the Ávila Camacho administration had the sculptor add a loincloth to the female figure, which wasn't removed until 1966.
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E
El Caballito
A couple of blocks west of the Alameda Central is El Caballito, a bright yellow representation of a horse's head by the sculptor Sebastián. It commemorates another equestrian sculpture that stood here for 127 years and today fronts the Museo Nacional de Arte.
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F
Monumento a la Independencia
Known as ‘El Ángel,’ this gilded Winged Victory on a 45m pillar was sculpted for the independence centennial of 1910. Inside the monument are the remains of Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, Ignacio Allende and nine other notables.
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