Alameda Central - The Oldest Park in the Americas

Photo: Correogsk, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Mexico City: Centro Historico Walk, a free self-guided tour.

End your walk in the shade of the Alameda Central. In 1592 the viceroy Luis de Velasco ordered a public green space created here, and it is often called the oldest public park in the Americas. Its name comes from alamo, Spanish for poplar, the trees first planted along its paths.

The park has a darker past, too. Its western end was once El Quemadero, the place where people condemned by the Inquisition were burned. Later the Alameda became the elegant place to see and be seen, with fountains inspired by Greek and Roman myths, and a full renovation in 2012 gave it new paving, trees and lighting.

The gleaming white monument facing Avenida Juarez is the Hemiciclo a Juarez, a semicircle of marble columns honoring President Benito Juarez, unveiled in 1910. Find a bench, rest your legs and watch the city go by. If you still have energy, Diego Rivera's famous mural of a Sunday afternoon in this very park is on display just west of here.

Getting here: Walk west from the Bellas Artes plaza into the park; the white Hemiciclo a Juarez stands along the Avenida Juarez side, a few minutes on.

Did you know?: Rivera's 1947 mural of the Alameda gathers centuries of Mexican history into one imaginary stroll through this park, with the artist himself painted as a boy.

Photo op: Stand in front of the Hemiciclo a Juarez and frame its white columns and seated statue against the trees.

More on Wikipedia: Alameda Central · Benito Juarez Hemicycle · Benito Juarez · Sueno de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central

Alameda Central - The Oldest Park in the Americas

Stops on this tour