What this section covers. Religious Mexico City — a subject that cannot be separated from the rest of the city, because the two calendars run together.
The Tepeyac. The Basilica of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic shrine in the world after St Peter's, built where the apparition is said to have occurred in 1531. The complex holds the modern Basilica by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, the leaning seventeenth-century Antigua Basílica, the Capilla del Cerrito at the top of the hill and the gardens. On 12 December several million people converge here over two days.
The colonial layer. The Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest in the Americas, built over two and a half centuries directly on the ruins of the Mexica ceremonial precinct. The churches of the historic centre, San Jerónimo, La Profesa, Santo Domingo. And the convents — Churubusco, Culhuacán, the Desierto de los Leones.
What is older than any of it. The Templo Mayor, a few metres from the cathedral: the main temple of Tenochtitlan, found in 1978 and still being excavated. The two stand almost on top of each other, which is the clearest statement about this city anyone could make.
Practical notes. Entry is free everywhere. Dress as the congregation does, keep photography discreet, and avoid 12 December unless that is specifically why you came.
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