Calle Madero - The Silversmiths' Street

Photo: Eneas De Troya from Mexico City, Mexico, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

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

You are on Calle Madero, the busiest walking street in the old city. Around 2010 it was closed to cars, and on weekends the crowds flow shoulder to shoulder between the Zocalo and the Torre Latinoamericana. It is one of the oldest streets in Mexico City, laid out soon after the conquest as part of the grid of the new Spanish town.

For centuries its eastern stretch was the Calle de Plateros, the Street of the Silversmiths, after a viceroy's order gathered the silver workers here. The block you are standing on was named for La Profesa, the old Jesuit church at this corner. The street's current name honors Francisco I. Madero, who led the 1910 revolution and became president. Tradition says that in December 1914 Pancho Villa himself climbed a ladder and fixed a new name plaque at this very corner, a story told with relish, though the details vary.

Stroll west slowly and keep looking up: the best carving and ironwork is above the shop signs.

Getting here: Walk west on 16 de Septiembre for two blocks, then turn right on Isabel la Catolica and go one block to Calle Madero.

Did you know?: The Madero pedestrian corridor won an award at the 2012 Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism.

Photo op: Stand in the middle of the street and look west: the Torre Latinoamericana rises at the far end like an exclamation point.

More on Wikipedia: Madero Street · Francisco I. Madero · Pancho Villa

Calle Madero - The Silversmiths' Street

Stops on this tour