Stately Paseo de la Reforma was laid out by Maximilian, who reigned as emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. Having established his royal residence in Chapultepec Castle, Maximilian desired a direct route to the National Palace and traveled it in an ornate carriage drawn by six buffcolored mules. At that time the roadway was known as Carlotta's Promenade.
From its intersection with Juarez westward to the park, the Paseo is punctuated by several impressive monuments. Where the two streets cross stands the oldest of them all El Caballito (Little Horse), the bronze equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain. A magnificent work of art, the statue was cast in Mexico in 1802 and first stood on the Zocalo. It is the horse (as the statue's affectionate name implies) that has captured the public's imagination, not the rider, who remains anonymous to most.
On the traffic circle in front of the Fiesta Palace Hotel is a splendid monument to Christopher Columbus, placed there in 1877.
Cuauhtemoc, last emperor of the Aztecs, keeps his vigil at the Reforma Insurgentes intersection from a rather complex pyramidal monument of three bodies, completed in 1887. Surmounting the whole is the heroic figure of 22 year old Cuauhtemoc in full battle dress, his spear at the ready.
Most beloved by Mexicans of all the Reforma monuments is the Independence shaft on the traffic circle where the Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton and the United States Embassy stand. Begun in 1902 but torn down in 1906 because of a faulty foundation, the monument was completed in 1909 on pilings driven 70 feet through the spongy subsoil to solid rock. Aside from the weight of the 150 foot column, the foundation supports the 8 ton gilded angel poised on the shaft's tip. After the severe earthquake of 1957 hurled the angel to the marble flooring at the base of the shaft, and during the many months required for repairs, the benches around the traffic circle were occupied continuously by the monument's devoted admirers.
Once the lovely fountain of Diana the Huntress graced a traffic circle at the entrance to Chapultepec Park, but fountain and circle were forced to give way to the march of progress and construction of the vital inner city expressway, some sections of which have been completed. Now that the section passing the park on the east is completed, Diana again presides over her fountain in a small park nearby, on the north side of Paseo de la Reforma.
Stately Paseo de la Reforma was laid out by Maximilian, who reigned as emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. Having established his royal residence in Chapultepec Castle, Maximilian desired a direct route to the National Palace and traveled it in an ornate carriage drawn by six buffcolored mules. At that time the roadway was known as Carlotta's Promenade.
Most beloved by Mexicans of all the Reforma monuments is the Independence shaft on the traffic circle where the Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton and the United States Embassy stand. Begun in 1902 but torn down in 1906 because of a faulty foundation, the monument was completed in 1909 on pilings driven 70 feet through the spongy subsoil to solid rock. Aside from the weight of the 150 foot column, the foundation supports the 8 ton gilded angel poised on the shaft's tip. After the severe earthquake of 1957 hurled the angel to the marble flooring at the base of the shaft, and during the many months required for repairs, the benches around the traffic circle were occupied continuously by the monument's devoted admirers.
