Monumento a la Revolución and Museo Nacional de la Revolución

Frommer's Review

The Art Deco Monument to the Revolution, in the large Plaza de la República, has a curious history. The government of Porfirio Díaz, who was perennially "reelected" president of Mexico, began construction of what was intended to be a new legislative chamber. However, only the dome was raised by the time the Mexican Revolution (1910) put an end to his plans, not to mention his dictatorship. In the 1930s, after the revolutionary turmoil had died down, the dome was finished as a monument. The remains of two revolutionary presidents, Francisco Madero and Venustiano Carranza, were entombed in two of its pillars, and it was dedicated to the Revolution. Later, presidents Plutarco Elías Calles and Lázaro Cárdenas were also buried there. (Note: At the time of his death, Calles was buried at La Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres. His body was then moved to the Monumento a la Revolución by an order of President Díaz Ordaz in 1969. A plaque honoring him still remains at the Rotunda, but his actual body is at the Monumento.)

Beneath the Monument to the Revolution is the Museo Nacional de la Revolución (enter directly across from the Frontón). It chronicles the tumultuous years from 1867 to 1917 -- when the present constitution was signed -- in excellent exhibits of documents, newspaper stories, photographs, drawings, clothing, costumes, uniforms, weapons, and furnishings.

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