Palacio de Bellas Artes Of Mexico City
Travel And Tour Photos And Pictures

George And Audrey DeLange

The "Palacio de Bellas Artes", is located on the east side of the Alameda Park, at the corner of Juarez and Lazaro Cardenas. Construction of this massive neoclassical building began in 1904, on the remains of the Santa Isabel convent, under the Italian architect Boari. It has an art nouveau style and its facade is made of marble from Carrara. In its interior, there is a crystal curtain carved with the images of the Iztlaccihuatl and Popocatepetl volcanoes. There are also some frescos of Orozco, Siqueiros, Rivera, Tamayo and Montenegro. Next to it is the Latin America Tower, which was for many years the highest building of the City, with its 47 floors (from which I took this picture) Originally it was to symbolize national progress and serve as a theater for Mexico's upper class. Porfirio Diaz had wanted to inaugurate it in 1911, to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of independence from Spain. It was scheduled to be completed in 1910, the centennial of Mexico's fight for independence, but problems arose during construction due to the instability of the ground that had been chosen for the building. Time passed, the revolution broke out, and in the end the palace was not completed until 1934. To date, it has now sunk almost 5 meters. We have been here several times and we have enjoyed some very fine shows from its auditorium. The most interesting to us was when we watched costumed dancers in the Ballet Folklorico, of Mexico City. The Ballet Folklorico de Mexico is a must-see show built around the folk dances and traditional costumes of Mexico. This internationally acclaimed troupe performs Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. Tickets cost M$220-M$375. We were last at the Palacio de Bellas Artes on January 12, 2005 at about 1PM.

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