Conoce la historia del Palacio Nacional, el primero en la ciudad

The oldest address in the city. The Palacio Nacional stands on the site of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin's palace, destroyed in the conquest of Tenochtitlan. Hernán Cortés built his own residence on the ruins, and in 1562 his son Martín sold the building to the Spanish Crown as the seat of the viceregal administration.

Sixty-one viceroys. The first to live here was Luis de Velasco; the last was Juan O'Donojú, who arrived just as Agustín de Iturbide was consummating independence in 1821. The palace passed to Iturbide and was renamed the Imperial Palace. When he fell in 1824, the new federal constitution replaced every "imperial" designation with "national" — which is where the present name comes from.

And then the nineteenth century. Forty years of conflict later it became the seat of Maximilian's Second Mexican Empire; after his fall it was the residence of Benito Juárez, who died here of angina in 1872. Santa Anna, Guadalupe Victoria and, last of all, Porfirio Díaz lived in it.

What it is now. The seat of the federal executive. The Grito is given from its central balcony on the night of 15 September, military parades pass in front of it, and heads of state are received inside.

What to see if you go in. Diego Rivera's stairwell and corridor murals, painted between 1929 and 1951, which tell the whole history of Mexico from Tenochtitlan onwards — the single best thing on the Zócalo. Entry is free with photo identification; confirm the current access arrangements, which change with official events.