Welcome to Zócalo Plaza
Location:
Mexico City
Address:
Plaza de la Constitución, Centro, 06010
Area/Surface:
57.600 m²
Date of construction:
The first part of 16th century
Opening hours:
Anytime
Prices:
Free
How to get here:
By car:
Situated in the center of Mexico City, a very crowdy city, it is easier to get here by means of transport, but if you want to get here by car will be very difficult without a GPS system. The streets which surround Zócalo market are: Jose Maria Pino Suarez in east and Plaza de la Constitución surrounds the market from the other sides.
By plane:
You can get on Mexico City International Airport from any part of the world either direct or with a stop flight and from here by means of transport or taxi.
By means of transport:
The easiest way to get in Zócalo Plaza (Line 2) is by underground, the stop with the same name being situated in the north part of Zócalo. The buses, trolley, minibus and other means of transport network is very well developed, so you can get here even with these, but due to the traffic your journey may take longer.
Mexico City, Zócalo
Plaza de la Constitución
History, name, measures and buildings of Zócalo Plaza:
Zócalo Plaza known also as Plaza de la Constitución is situated in the middle of the great Mexican metropolis and represents one of the most beautiful parts from the historical center. On the current place, since ancient times, during Aztecs here was the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan city. Once with the colonization of Mexico by Spanish people in XVI century, here is situated the actual market. Zócalo Plaza was built probably immediately after 1521 by Alonso Garcia Bravo, when Spanish invasion ended. The actual name of Plaza de la Constitución comes from Cadiz Constitution signed in Spain in 1812.
The name Zócalo comes from the Independence Tower which locals wanted to built here, but in the end was built only the bottom, destroyed after, which in Spanish is translated with Zócalo. The surface of the market is a perfect square with 240 m each side and is one of the biggest markets in the world. During time for some hundreds years since it was built, Zócalo Plaza went through several changes and restoration periods and was the witness of several important events. Some of these are the construction of Mexico City Cathedral which is situated today in the north part of Zócalo, the construction of Mayor Temple situated in north-east and the National Palace situated in the east part, the construction of the Trade Portal (Portales de Mercaderes) situated in west, but also the Town hall (Portales de Mercaderes), building which marks the south part of Zócalo Plaza.
Zocalo Plaza is pretty crowded with cars and tourists
Importance and important events in Zócalo Plaza:
Also, other important events from here are the localization and construction of the monument dedicated to Spanish king Charles IV, the pavement of the plaza with bitumen in 1894, the bombing of the National Palace and part of the plaza between 9 and 19th February 1968 and many others. Today, Zócalo Plaza is the most important tourist objective of the Mexican capital and the main place of meeting for different personalities, musical groups, politicians and artists.
During the 20th century and until nowadays, the impressive and beautiful Zócalo Plaza was the witness of several political events, unfortunately most of them negatives, like protests. (Find more journeys on blog.worldlifetimejourneys.com) Almost always the plaza was full with over 100.000 people (sometimes much more), which protested here either against the election of unwanted Mexican leaders, either against some of the measures taken by them. Zócalo Plaza is also the place where the Mexican president is speaking to people from the balcony of the National Palace. However, this ancient place since 1982 and until today hold beautiful events as well, artistic and cultural like daily Aztec shows, concerts of different bands or famous singers like Shakira, Paul McCartney or Justin Bieber that each of them collected over 200.000 people, but also a huge ice rink for the inhabitants of the city. Also Zócalo Plaza is the place for Mexican parades and of the annual Mexican festival of art, a place which you can’t miss if you come to visit Mexico City.
Zocalo Plaza with the Cathedral from Mexico City
