One of the first neighbourhoods in Mexico City. Santa María la Ribera and its neighbour San Rafael were laid out in the same years, as the first planned subdivisions the city ever had. The Flores family, who owned the rancho de Santa María, developed it as a "modern" district with elegant architecture built to the French taste of the period — which is why its streets still look the way they do.
The street names tell you what was here. Because of the dense woodland on the site, the streets were named after trees: El Fresno, El Sabino, El Ciprés.
What to see. The Kiosco Morisco, a Moorish-revival iron and stained-glass pavilion built for the 1884 New Orleans World's Fair, brought back to Mexico and installed in the Alameda de Santa María, where it has stood since 1910. The Museo de Geología, with its spiral iron staircase and nineteenth-century display cases. The Museo del Chopo, in an art nouveau steel-and-glass pavilion imported from Germany. And the Casa de los Mascarones.
Why go. Because almost no visitor does, and it is ten minutes from the centre.
Practical notes. Metro San Cosme and Buenavista, line 2, and Normal, line 2. Visit in daylight and keep to the main streets; museums close on Mondays.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
