Alameda Central

Viceroy Luis de Velasco laid out the Alameda in 1592 as a poplar walk for the colonial gentry, making it the oldest public park in the Americas - older than any square of its kind in the hemisphere. Four centuries on, it is the historic center's living room: diagonal promenades under jacarandas and ash trees, Frenchified fountains of Neptune and Mercury, the white marble semicircle of the Hemiciclo a Juarez, and benches filled from morning to night with couples, chess players and families dodging the balloon sellers. Rivera painted it into national myth in his mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda - displayed in its own museum at the park's western tip - populating the walkways with Cortes, Juarez, la Catrina and himself as a boy. Restored and re-marbled in 2012, the park now pairs its history with espresso kiosks and evening light displays in the fountains.

History

The first park was less than half its present size, reaching only from the site of the Palacio de Bellas Artes to the Hemiciclo de Juárez. The viceroy Marqués de Croix enlarged it in 1770, the Count of Revillagigedo extended it again in 1791 and fenced it for the nobility, gas lamps came in 1868 and electric light in 1892, and by the end of the 19th century it was popular with every class (Wikipedia, Alameda Central).

Highlights

• The promenades - diagonal walks under jacaranda and ash.
• The Hemiciclo a Juarez - the white marble monument facing Avenida Juarez.
• The fountains - classical bronzes refreshed with evening lights.
• Rivera's Dream - the mural of this very park at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera.

When to go

March, when the jacarandas turn the paths violet, is the picture month. Sunday afternoons are the full Rivera scene - crowded and alive; weekday mornings are the quiet version.

Good to know

This is a city park, not a botanical garden - expect vendors, noise and heavy footfall on weekends. Afternoon downpours in summer empty it fast.

Nearby

Bellas Artes at the eastern end, the Museo Mural Diego Rivera at the western, and the Franz Mayer museum across Avenida Hidalgo.

Key facts