Project

Seven centuries of Mexican history are recorded in the architectural landscape of the Centro Histórico, or Historic Center, of Mexico City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (...)

Seven centuries of Mexican history are recorded in the architectural landscape of the Centro Histórico, or Historic Center, of Mexico City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Zócalo, a large urban plaza near the eastern edge of the district, was part of the 14th-century Aztec city, while the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which WMF helped restore, contains some of Mexico’s finest murals from the early 20th century, including one of the most important works of Diego Rivera. The majority of buildings in the Centro Histórico were constructed during the 300 years when Mexico was under Spanish rule.

By the 1980s, the population of Mexico City had grown to over 16 million and many parts of the city had become overcrowded, plagued with infrastructure and pollution problems. In the Centro Histórico, much of the architecture fell into disrepair and many of the buildings were abandoned. The Fundación Centro Histórico was established by Carlos Slim in 2000 with the goal of restoring and reusing the historic architecture and urban monuments of the historic center of Mexico City.