Mexico
City Attractions - Paseo de la refoma
Paseo de la Reforma ("Reform
Avenue") is a 12 km long grand avenue in Mexico City. The
name commemorates the liberal reforms of Mexican President Benito
Juárez.
This wide avenue runs in a straight line, cutting diagonally across
the city. It was built on the orders of Emperor Maximilian in
the 1860s and was originally called "The Emperor's Avenue".
It runs from Chapultepec Park, through the swank Zona Rosa, to
the downtown area in the vicinity of the Alameda Central park.
More modern extensions called "New Reforma" continue
the avenue at an angle to the old Paseo.
Monuments
Many monuments to people and events in Mexico's history and the
history of the Americas are situated on and along Reforma. People
so honored include the Niños Héroes – the Heroic
Cadets of the Battle of Chapultepec – with a particularly grand
monument, Cuaúhtemoc, Simón Bolívar, and
Christopher Columbus. There is also a monument to the nationalization
of Mexico's oil reserves and industry in 1938, and a statue of
the Roman goddess Diana.
One the most famous monuments of the Paseo is a tall pillar surmounted
with a gilded statue of an angel, built to commemorate the centennial
of Mexico's independence in 1910. The base contains the tombs
of several key figures in Mexico's war of independence.
Near the central section of Reforma,
across from the Alameda, is the Monument to the Revolution. This
is an enormous dome supported by four arches. It was originally
planned, by Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, to be a part of a
new parliament building. After Díaz's overthrow it became
a monument to the revolution that deposed him. The remains of
Francisco Madero and several other heroes of the Mexican Revolution
are interred here.
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