The Monument to Cuauhtémoc is an 1887 monument dedicated to the last

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...

ruler ('' tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan Cuauhtémoc, located at the intersection of

Avenida de los Insurgentes Avenida de los Insurgentes ( en, Avenue of the Insurgents), sometimes known simply as Insurgentes, is the longest avenue in Mexico City, with a length of on a north-south axis across the city. Insurgentes has its origins in what was during the ...

and Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. It is the work of Francisco Jiménez and Miguel Noreña in the "neoindigenismo" (academic indigenismo style), and was proposed to promote the new government of

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

Historical context

The construction of the monument was part of a nationalist discourse, promoted through a program of public sculpture and an expansion of the Paseo de la Reforma. Its construction occurred subsequent to the Monument to Christopher Columbus, located at the next major roundabout (''glorieta'') of the same wide avenue, and in contrast to it, as an attempt to highlight the

mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...

(mixed origin) identity of contemporary Mexico. It is also deliberately made in the same scale as monuments celebrating national heroes from the 19th Century Mexican War of Independence. Alongside the Mexico Pavilion at the

1889 Paris exhibition The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. T ...

by Antonio Anza, the monument was part of a failed search for a purely Mexican artistic style. The monument to Cuauhtémoc was created on the initiative of Vicente Riva Palacio who proposed to promote the " Porfiriato" regime of president Porfirio Díaz with a monument to honour the last of the Mexica rulers. To do this, in 1877 D.J.S. Bagally, Emilio Dondé, Manuel Gargollo y Parra and Ramón Rodríguez Arangoyti were convened as judges for a public competition. The winners was engineer Francisco M. Jiménez who were inspired by the details of prehispanic Mexican architecture, such as the ancient buildings of Uxmal, Mitla and the archaeological site of Palenque, among others. Jimenez died two days after the decision was announced therefore the construction of the monument was overseen by Ramón Agea, architect and engineer of the

National Palace of Mexico The National Palace ( es, Palacio Nacional) is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. Since 2018 it has also served as the official residence for the President of Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constituc ...

. The Minister of public works,

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, then commissioned Miguel Noreña for sculptures on the monument at a cost of 37,863 pesos. 3 thousand was later added to the cost for the bronze leopards around the base as these had originally been planned by Jiménez to only be built in ''chiluca'' stone. The foundation stone was laid on 5 May 1878 a date chosen by Diaz in recognition of the Battle of Puebla. It was opened nine years later on 21 August 1887 by Diaz. The casting was made in the workshop of

Jesús Contreras Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet. Jesus may also refer to: People Religious figures * Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Ac ...

and weights 354 tons.

Location

In 1949 architect Mario Pani Darqui had planned to build a huge square with traffic intersection and at least a dozen new buildings with the monument as the center of the project. The Mexico City Government moved the monument from its original location to the middle of the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida de los Insurgentes as the first stage of the construction but the project was not completed. In 2004 as a part of a major restoration of the Paseo, the Mexico City government decided move it back to its original site. Restoration works of the base, sculptures and the construction of the new environs took place beginning on April 12, 2004. For this new site, the local government and the National Institute of Anthropology and History undertook research to confirm the original site - 79 meters to the northwest of the location in 1949. In the new site a stronger foundation for the monument was built, which also gave the monument an elevation 1.8m higher than the original. The renovation was completed with the placement of the Cuauhtémoc statue on December 10, 2004. The monument is now situated in the middle of a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

(''glorieta'') in the city's main boulevard with "Glorieta of the Palm" at the next intersection to the West and "la glorieta of the Columbus monument" at the next intersection to the East.

Sculpture

The monument is topped by a statue of Cuauhtémoc, wearing ceremonial clothing with a ''penacho'' ( plumed headdress) and holding a spear, made by the Mexican sculptor Miguel Noreña. The costume and the anatomical arrangement of Cuauhtémoc - made to resemble statues of the

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

tradition, following the artistic fashion of the time. The '' tilmàtli'' (outer garment) is knotted the Roman style, for example. According to Arturo Arnaiz y Freg, poet Ignacio Manuel Altamirano was the model for the Cuauhtémoc face.

Base

Designed by Francisco Jiménez, the base of the monument incorporates many Mesoamerican stylistic elements including an octagonal shape, consisting of three truncated pyramidal bodies. The third one shows influence of complex slope/board and contains friezes inspired by the architecture of Mitla. On the four sides of monument are names of other Aztec commanders during the Spanish conquest:

Cuitláhuac Cuitláhuac (, ) (c. 1476 – 1520) or Cuitláhuac (in Spanish orthography; nah, Cuitlāhuac, , honorific form: Cuitlahuatzin) was the 10th '' Huey Tlatoani'' (emperor) of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan for 80 days during the year Two Flin ...

(East), Cacama (North), Tetlepanquetzaltzin (originally Tetlepanquetzal, West) and Coanacoch (South). The base also includes two inscriptions: The reliefs on the North and South of the pedestal represent ''The meeting of Cuauhtémoc prisoner with Cortés'' (original: ''La entrevista de Cuauhtémoc, prisionero, con Cortés''), by Miguel Noreña and ''The torment of Cuauhtémoc'' (original: ''El tormento de Cuauhtémoc'') by Gabriel Guerra. Image:Monumento Cuauhtemoc Paseo Reforma 1.JPG, The monument with

Reforma 222 250px, Towers 1 and 3, Reforma 222 Reforma 222 is a mixed-use complex on Paseo de la Reforma just west of Avenida de los Insurgentes in the Colonia Juárez neighborhood of Mexico City. Construction started in 2004; the complex opened in Novem ...

in the background. Image:Cuauhtemoc_Monument.JPG, Image:SceneTortureCuautemocMonumentDF.jpg, ''The torment Cuauhtémoc'', de Gabriel Guerra Image:Placa Monumento Cuahutemoc.JPG Image:Monumento Cuahtemoc 2.JPG Image:LionMOnumentPaseo.jpg Image: Monumento a Cuauhtémoc en Paseo de la Reforma.jpg Image: Monumento a Cuauhtémoc en Paseo de la Reforma - glorieta.jpg Image: Monumento a Cuauhtémoc en Paseo de la Reforma - con rascacielos.jpg

References

External links