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Basilica of Guadalupe

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The Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe, officially called Insigne and National Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe, is a sanctuary of the Catholic Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary in its dedication of Guadalupe, located at the foot of the Cerro del Tepeyac in the Gustavo City Hall A. Madero of Mexico City.

It belongs to the First Archdiocese of Mexico through the Guadalupana Vicariate that since November 4, 2018 is under the care of Salvador Martínez Ávila who holds the title of General and Episcopal Vicar of Guadalupe and rector of the Shrine.

It is the most visited Marian precinct in the world, surpassed only by the Basilica of San Pedro. Although the figures quoted are not uniform, annually about twenty million pilgrims visit the sanctuary, of which about nine million do so in the days close to December 12, when Santa María de Guadalupe is celebrated. Annually, the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe has at least twice as many visitors as the most famous Marian shrines, which is why it is an outstanding social and cultural phenomenon.

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Plaza of the Three Cultures

Its name comes from the fact that the architectural ensembles located around it come from three different historical stages:

    Culture of Tenochtitlan, previous to the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards and is represented by a series of pre-Hispanic pyramids and ruins, of the Mexica people called Tlatelolca. At this time and in this place, there was a famous market that supplied all kinds of merchandise from Mesoamerica to the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico. This is the stage of the First Culture.

    Spanish culture, from the Conquest of Mexico to its independence, represented by a convent and the Catholic temple of Santiago, from the colonial period. In the area the College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco was founded, in charge of the Spanish evangelizers Bernardino de Sahagún and Juan de Zumárraga. The conquistadores had the habit of building their Christian temples exactly on the pre-Hispanic temples because, in addition, they took advantage of the stones for construction and on the other hand there was a sacralization of space (the sacred above the sacred). This is the stage of the Second Culture.

    Culture of modern Mexico, represented by the Tower of Tlatelolco, headquarters until 2005 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and currently headquarters of the University Cultural Center and Memorial of the 68 of the UNAM, as well as the housing buildings, known as Conjunto Urbano Nonoalco Tlatelolco. Several of these buildings are the work of the outstanding architect Mario Pani Darqui. This is the stage of creole syncretism and corresponds to the Third Culture.

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Historical Center of Mexico City

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The Historical Center of Mexico City (or simply Historical Center or Center, colloquially the Center) is the original nucleus around which grew the current Mexican capital.

The area of this area of the city can be defined according to two criteria. In an administrative sense, it corresponds to the Colonia Centro of the Cuauhtémoc delegation. In another sense, it corresponds to the zone of historical monuments delimited by the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

It was reconciled and circumscribed by presidential decree on April 11, 1980. It has an area of approximately 10 square kilometers, includes and exceeds in part the island on which the pre-Hispanic city was founded and also the one that later had the colonial trace . It is there, precisely, where, despite the destructive action of time and human activity, vestiges and extraordinary monuments that speak of the seven centuries of the life of the city endure. All this architectural set in that area of the city, is a World Heritage Site since 1987.

It is called the Historic Center because in the center of the lake area of five lakes - Lake Texcoco, Lake Chalco, Lake Xochimilco, Lake Zumpango and Lake Xaltocan - there was a small island in which was installed the ceremonial and political set of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, head of the Triple Alliance and the domains of the Mexicas. Later, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1521, the Mexica city became the political, economic, religious and cultural center of New Spain, using prehispanic traces to a great extent.

Xochimilco

The famous canals of Xochimilco, the last remnants of the extensive transportation system created by the Aztecs, are located in the south of Mexico City, next to a struggling working class neighborhood. The colorful gondolas take visitors for walks alongside the boats of food vendors, artisans and mariachis. The atmosphere is festive, especially on weekends. Tourists can also visit the spooky Isla de las Muñecas, supposedly haunted.

The origins of Xochimilco go back to pre-Hispanic times. Since the Mesoamerican Preclassic Period, its banks and islands were home to diverse peoples of unknown origin. At the beginning of the Postclassic, Xochimilco was an important alterpetl that was submitted by the Mexicas in the 15th century. During the Colony and the first years of independent life in Mexico, the territory of Xochimilco became a food supplier for Mexico City.

Xochimilco is particularly important because of the existence of chinampas. They are the testimony of an ancient Mesoamerican agricultural technique that was developed and shared by several peoples of the Valley of Mexico. After the drying of the Anahuac lakes, only Xochimilco and Tláhuac6 preserve the chinampería. Therefore, it is one of the main tourist destinations of the Federal District that attracts both Mexican and foreign visitors. In order to contribute to the preservation of the lacustrine environment, Unesco proclaimed the chinampas of Xochimilco as a World Heritage Site in 1987. The declaration has been twice endangered due to the ecological deterioration in the face of the advance of urbanization.