- Type
- Fortress
- Built
- 1785 · 18th century
- Location
- Mexico, Mexico
- Style
- Neoclassical architecture
- Architect
- Carl Gangolf Kayser
- Coordinates
- 19.4206°, -99.1817°
History
Chapultepec, Nahuatl for Grasshopper Hill, was a sacred site for the Aztecs, and in 1785 work began on its summit on a summer residence for the Spanish viceroys. In the 19th century it housed the military academy, whose cadets helped defend the hill when US troops stormed it in September 1847. In the 1860s Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg and Empress Charlotte rebuilt it as their residence and laid out the avenue to the city centre that is now Paseo de la Reforma. Mexican presidents later lived here until Lázaro Cárdenas turned it into the National Museum of History in 1939.
What to see
The museum traces Mexico's story from the Spanish conquest to the Revolution, and huge murals by Mexican artists cover the walls of many rooms. In the palace wing the apartments of Maximilian and Charlotte survive with original furniture, carriages and porcelain. The rooftop terraces and gardens, framed by stained glass and fountains, look out over Chapultepec forest and the towers of Paseo de la Reforma.
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