Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/456

* MEXICO. 418 MEXICO. preserve more beautiful forms of architecture than are usually associated with a modern indus- trial city, with the result that here may be found an artistic centre for local color not equaled elsewhere on the American continent. .Seen from a distance the city, prevailingly white in color, is an imposing spectacle. Spreading widely over the plain, ovortnpped by domes and pinnacles, and hemmed around l)y m.ijestic nioim- tains, few cities of the world are more cliarming and impressive. Most of the houses have terraced roofs and inner courts, are solidly built of sandstone or lava, and are only one to two stories in height, a precaution against the frequent though usually slight earthquakes: but many of the business and public buildings, supported on solid foiinda- tions of piling, arc three and even more stories in elevation, and some of them reach an altitude of live stories. The walls of many of the poorer buildings are not quite perpendicular, owing to the shocks they have sustained, thus giving to some of the street fronts a rather rickety appear- ance. The later buildings along the business streets are making greater use of steel in their construction, a luaclice better adapted to the rather insecure foundation soil of the city. BuiLmxcs. On the north side of the I'laza de Armas, the Cathedral, one of the largest and most sumptuous cluirclies in America, rises on the site of the great temple of Huitzilopoelitli, the titular god of the Aztecs. The Cathedral. l)egun in 1573, and dedicated in 1607 at a cost of .$2.1)00,000 for the walls alone, forms a Latin cross, 426 feet long aiul 203 feet wide, with two great naves, three aisles, twenty side chapels, and a magnificent higli altar supported by marlile columns and surroundeil bv a liaUistrade with si.ty-two statues of gold, silver, and copper alloy. The elaborately carved choir inclosed by tombac (copper and zinc alloy) railings is valued at .$1,500,000. The Doric style of architecture^ prevails in the interior, and the mixed Doric and Ionic of the Spanish Renaissance in the exterior, with its five tloines and two open towers 21S feet high. Tlic latter were not completed until 1791. In addition to the Cathedral, Mexico contains some sixty churches, among which the finest are La Profesa, Loreto, Santa Teresa. Santo Domingo, and San Ilipolito. The leading Protestant denominations are represented bv houses of worship, which are attended almost wholly b.v the foreign element of the population. The east side of the I'laza is occupied by the Natiimal Palace, of poor and monotonous archi- tecture, which has 075 feet frontage and contains most of the Government ollices, the general archives, and some remarkable paintings by Miranda and native artists. With its associated buildings this structure occupies an area of 14.000 square meters. The Pnhir'w has long been inadequate to the needs of the various depart- ments installed within it. and at the present time there are in process of building a new iinst-ofTiee building and a new War and Xavy building, both steel and stone structures. Xorth of the Na- tional Palace and forming parts of it are the post-ofTice and the National Mtiseum of Natural History and. ticpiities. with a priceless collec- tion of Aztec relies, and 'the bones of giants" as they were formerlv supposed to l)e. though now recognized ns the remains of large animals of the Quaternary epoch. The Nntionnl Observatory and the Meteorological Bureau arc also located here. The ilonte de Piedad, the famous national pawnshop of Mexico, with nearly $10,000,000 of accumulated funds, stands close to the Cathedral, and with its liberal management is really a beneficent charity. Facing tiie Cathedral is the Palacio Municipal or Citv Hall, containing the city and Federal District otfices. Among other notable buildings is the School of ilcdicine on the I'laza Santo Domingo, occupying the quarters in which the Inquisition made its infamous history; the Church of the Jesuits; the School of Arts, where many branches of industry are taught; the National Picture Gallery of San Carlos, in which the Florentine and Flemish schools are especiallv well represented; the Na- tional Librar.v, formerly the Church of San Augustin. with over 200.000 volumes, numerous manuscripts, and rare old .Spanish books; the Mint, in which silver and gold have been coined, since KJOO, to the value of nearly .$3,000,000,000; the Iturbide Hotel, and the School of Mines, de- signed by the artist Tolsa. one of the finest struc- tures in Mexico, with rich mineralogical and geological collections, and containing also the School of Engineering with its oliservatory. The city abounds with hospitals, for no place takes lietter care of its sick and intirni than the City of Mexico. One of the curiosities is the little old building in which the first printing in .merica was done. At the present time 33 dail.v papers and 100 magazines and reviews, in Spanish. Eng- lish, French, and German, administer to the in- tellectual and artistic life of the capital. The chief of the twenty scientific institutions is the Geographical and Statistical Societ.v, which issues many maps and charts. There are ntimcrous pulilic schools, and man.v of the sciences and arts are represented by special schools. STREET.S AXi) Pabk.s. Jlexico is said to be the finest built city on the American continent. Some of its thoroughfares, paved with asphalt and lined with houses whose height bears a strict architectviral relation to the width of the streets, certainly bear out this assertion. While many of its 000 streets and lanes are very narrow, especiall.v within the nine sqtnire miles that the old walls inclose, still they arc laid out with great regularity. The monoton.v of arrangement of this part is fairl,v well broken by an occasional public square or garden, while bevond the circle of the walls, and especially to the northwest, the streets have spread with greater irregularit.v. The main streets running from north to south and from east to west intersect at the Plnzn Mni/or, faniiliarlv known as the 'Zocalo.' These streets are of fair width, but the sidewalks here, as elsewhere, are too narrow to accommo- date easily the passers-by. For the customary mule tramway an up-to-date electric service has been substituted, with the result that the urban population is largely increasing. The principal streets are electrically lighted, and are clean and well kept. The leading business thoroughfare, San Fran- cisco Street, with its ((inliiniation. CiiVr de Plnlornx (for the city still retains the bewilder- ing custom of changing the name of the street every few blocks i . connects the I'laza Mayor with the .lameda and reminds the visitor strongly of the fashionable shopping districts of European centres. Here shops with their costly displays of