In 1519 Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world, built on a lake. Within two years it lay in ruins, and on top of them rose the capital of New Spain. Twelve stops from Tlatelolco, where the city fell and where students were shot in 1968, through the Zócalo, the National Palace, the Templo Mayor, the Inquisition, the sinking Cathedral, the palace where Moctezuma died, the causeway of the Sad Night, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Angel of Independence, the Anthropology Museum and Chapultepec Castle. Approximate audio duration: 23 minutes.
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Ciudad de México: Tenochtitlan, la ciudad enterrada
En 1519 Tenochtitlan era una de las ciudades más grandes del mundo, construida sobre un lago. En dos años quedó en ruinas, y sobre ellas se levantó la capital de la Nueva España. Doce paradas desde Tlatelolco, donde cayó la ciudad y donde en 1968 se disparó contra estudiantes, por el Zócalo, el Palacio Nacional, el Templo Mayor, la Inquisición, la Catedral que se hunde, el palacio donde murió Moctezuma, la calzada de la Noche Triste, el Palacio de Bellas Artes, el Ángel de la Independencia, el Museo de Antropología y el Castillo de Chapultepec. Duración aproximada de audio: 23 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~23 min of audio · 7.5 km on foot (~1 h 55 min walking) · about 2 h 30 min in total
You are in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, in Tlatelolco. Look at the three eras side by side: the stone ruins of a pre-Hispanic temple, the colonial church of Santiago, and around them the apartment blocks of the 1960s.
Tlatelolco was Tenochtitlan's twin city, on the same island in the lake. The largest market in the Americas stood here. The Spanish conquistadors wrote that tens of thousands of people gathered every day to buy and sell, and that they had never seen anything like it.
In 1521, after almost three months of siege, the last Mexica defenders fell back here. On 13 August the Span…
2
The Stones They Buried Again
You are in the Zócalo, the main square of Mexico City. Look at the huge empty esplanade, the giant flag in the center, the Cathedral to the north, the National Palace to the east. It is one of the largest squares in the world.
You are standing on the center of Tenochtitlan. According to tradition, the Mexica founded their city in 1325 on an islet in Lake Texcoco, where they saw an eagle on a cactus devouring a serpent. It is the image on the flag.
When the Spaniards arrived in 1519, they found a city of some two hundred thousand inhabitants, joined to the mainland by causeways, crossed by ca…
3
Moctezuma's House
You are in front of the National Palace. Look at the long facade of reddish volcanic stone, with balconies and, in the center, the bell rung every 15 September for the cry of independence.
Beneath this building stood the New Houses of Moctezuma, the palace of the Mexica ruler: hundreds of rooms, gardens, a zoo with birds from all over the empire. The Spaniards wrote that it was a marvel.
After the conquest, Cortés kept the land. Later the Crown bought it and it was the residence of the viceroys for almost three centuries. Since independence it has been the seat of Mexico's executive power.
…
4
What the Electricians Found
You are in front of the ruins of the Templo Mayor. Look at the stepped stone walls, one inside the other, the stairways, the serpent heads poking out. And behind, a few meters away, the Cathedral.
This was the religious heart of Tenochtitlan: a great pyramid crowned by two temples, one for Huitzilopochtli, god of war and the sun, and one for Tlaloc, god of rain. It was enlarged seven times, and each new pyramid enclosed the previous one. That is why you see walls within walls.
For four centuries it lay buried under colonial houses. In February 1978, workers from the electricity company diggi…
5
The Holy Office in New Spain
You are in the Plaza de Santo Domingo. Look at the baroque church of reddish stone, the arcaded portals on the west side and, on the corner, a palace with a diagonal entrance: it was the Palace of the Inquisition.
After destroying the temples, the Spaniards set about converting the population. Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians arrived. They baptized millions of people, built churches on the old shrines and burned the painted books of the old priests.
In 1571 the tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was set up in the city. It persecuted Jewish converts, Protestants, people ac…
6
The Sinking Cathedral
You are in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Look at the two bell-shaped towers, the baroque facade, and look closely at the lines of the building: they are not quite straight. The cathedral is leaning.
Construction began in 1573 and ended in 1813: two hundred and forty years. That is why it mixes styles, from Renaissance to neoclassical. For its foundations they used stones from the Mexica temples that stood here.
The problem is the ground. The city is built on the bed of a drained lake: soft clay, full of water. When water is pumped from the subsoil, the clay compacts and the ground sin…
7
The Captive King
You are in front of the Nacional Monte de Piedad, Mexico's great pawnshop, founded in 1775. Look at the stone facade and the people going in with watches, jewelry or tools to leave in exchange for a loan.
This plot has a far more dramatic history. The palace of Axayacatl, Moctezuma's father, stood here. When Hernán Cortés reached Tenochtitlan in November 1519, Moctezuma received him as a guest and lodged him in this palace.
The Spaniards numbered about four hundred, surrounded by a city of hundreds of thousands. They felt in danger and made a bold decision: they seized Moctezuma and held him…
8
The Sad Night
You are on Tacuba street, in front of Plaza Tolsá and the Palacio de Minería. Look at the straight street that runs on to the west. It is one of the oldest streets on the continent: it follows the line of the causeway that joined Tenochtitlan to the city of Tlacopan, on the mainland.
Imagine it five hundred years ago: a causeway raised above the waters of the lake, cut every so often by canals with wooden bridges that could be removed.
On the night of 30 June 1520, with Moctezuma dead and the city in revolt, the Spaniards decided to flee. They left in secret along this causeway, in the rain,…
9
The Lake's Revenge
You are in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Look at the huge white marble facade, the sculptures, the orange and gold dome. And now look at its base: the building seems to sit in a pit, lower than the street.
It was begun in 1904 by an Italian architect, Adamo Boari, commissioned by President Porfirio Díaz. He wanted a theater worthy of Paris. The revolution interrupted the work, and it was only finished in 1934.
The building is extremely heavy, and it rests on the clay of the old lake. It began to sink before it was finished. Since then it has gone down several meters. Originally you c…
10
The Steps That Grow
You are in front of the Angel of Independence, on the Paseo de la Reforma. Look at the very tall column with the golden winged victory at the top, and notice the base: a flight of steps rising from the street.
The monument was inaugurated in September 1910 for the centenary of the start of independence. Inside, in a mausoleum, lie the remains of several of the heroes who rose up against Spain in 1810.
The column has very deep foundations, resting on firm layers of subsoil. So it does not sink. What sinks is everything else: the avenue, the sidewalks, the surrounding buildings.
The result: o…
11
The Stone That Is Not a Calendar
You are in the National Museum of Anthropology. Look at the central courtyard: a huge square slab held up by a single column, from which a curtain of water falls. Mexicans call it the umbrella.
It opened in 1964. It holds the world's most important collection on the ancient cultures of Mexico: Olmecs, Maya, Zapotecs, Teotihuacan, the great city of the pyramids an hour from here, and the Mexica.
Go to the Mexica Hall, at the back. In the center you will see the Sun Stone, the one found in the Zócalo in 1790: nearly four meters in diameter, some twenty-four tons.
Everyone calls it the Aztec c…
12
The Hill of Water
You are at the top of Chapultepec hill, at the castle. Look out from the terrace: the Paseo de la Reforma running straight toward the center, the skyscrapers, and a city stretching as far as the eye can see, where there used to be a lake.
Chapultepec means grasshopper hill in Nahuatl. For Tenochtitlan it was a vital place: from the springs at the foot of this hill came the fresh water that an aqueduct carried to the island. The Mexica rulers had their portraits carved into the rock of the hill.
In the eighteenth century a viceroy built a summer palace here. Later it was a military college. O…
How long does the "Mexico City: Tenochtitlan, the Buried City" audio tour take?
It has about 23 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 7.5 km walking route (~1 h 55 min on foot). Plan roughly 2 h 30 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "Neither Triumph nor Defeat" (coordinates 19.4511, -99.1372). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Mexico City and pick "Mexico City: Tenochtitlan, the Buried City". No account required to start.
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No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
