The ancient inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico worshiped nature and water. Chapultepec hill was a sacred place; the rulers Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, Ahuízotl, Moctezuma Xocoyotzi, as well as Texcoco and Nezahualcoyotl, built their temples, rest houses, bath houses, and an aqueduct to bring water to Tenochtitlan there. It was also where Moctezuma Xocoyotzin kept a collection of exotic fish.

It has been discovered that Moctezuma’s bath house was six feet deep, and the original construction had a stepped rectangular shape and mortar sections painted in red. After the Conquest, the crystal clear water tank was a pool for Hernán Cortés and Malinche, viceroys, Military School cadets, the Emperor Maximilian of Hapsburg and his wife Charlotte of Belgium, among other figures. In the early 20th century, Porfirio Diaz ordered the remodeling of Chapultepec, including its pool, and its rectangular shape became an octagonal.