Mexico City's Zócalo measures approximately 46,800 m (1,800 ft). Its monumentality continues intact through the five centuries of history that precede it; a history that has modified its structure a thousand times and not once its meaning. Few things have changed so much and so little as this monumental plancha, which after 500 years continues to function as the political, social and religious center of our urban area.
The same site of the original islet of Mexico-Tenochtitlan now has, in its perimeter, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Palace and the City Hall Palace. Since Mesoamerica, the Zócalo has concentrated demonstrations, monuments, circuses, markets, concerts, festivals... And in the centuries that it has been standing, fountains, gardens, trees, cement, a cart route, a streetcar route and a subway route have been taken away, put in and taken out again.
This gallery gathers some of those moments of our city's Zócalo -which is actually called Plaza de la Constitución-in 15 photographs. The oldest of the entrance
Cadets of the Escuela Militar de Aspirantes arrive at the Zócalo on February 9, 1913, at the beginning of the fighting of the Decena Trágica. Photos: Manuel Ramos, col. Elmer and Diane Powell, Southern Methodist University.
The Zócalo in the twenties. In front is the tramway station, first and second class. Photo: Villasana-Torres Collection.
In the mid-fifties, the Zócalo still had planters and fountains; soon after, this emblematic plaza would change its image to the one we know today. To the right is the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the urban trucks of the time can also be seen.
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Photo history of the urban sprawl we call city - Local Gallery