Mexico City Zocalo

  Mexico City's Zócalo is bounded on the north by Cinco de Mayo, on the east by Pino Suárez, on the south by 16 de Septiembre and on the West by Monte de Piedad. If you arrive by metro, your first view will be dramatic.
The Plaza de la Constitución, more commonly known as the "Zócalo" is a must on any visitor's list of things to do in México City. This is a great place to get a feel for the areas history and to start your exploration of the city. Within just a few blocks of the Zócalo, in all directions, are some of the city's finest examples of city history, architecture and art. More than 1500 buildings in this relatively small area of the city have been declared historic or artistic monuments.
The Zócalo once contained the pyramids and palaces of Moctezuma and was the exact center of the Aztec empire. To this day the center is famous for its activity and for being the very heartbeat of México City. It is here that the country celebrates it independence with the "El Grito" on September 15th, every year. The Zócalo is the second largest public plaza in the world (only Red Square in Moscow is bigger), covering over 13 acres.

 

 The Zócalo holds many artistic events and civic celebrations. Many artists, such as Café Tacuba, Maná, Alejandro Sanz, and Shakira (whose concert holds the Zócalo attendance record, with more than 210,000 people attending), have performed concerts.
The Zocalo is the center of the city where everyone comes to demonstrate, to see the sites, or just watch everybody else in constant motion around the massive expanse of the ancient plaza, which itself has some of the most vital aspects of the Mexican culture all clustered into one place. On one side, there is the massive Catedral, which the Spanish built from the same stones from the Templo Mayor (just behind the Cathedral) when they destroyed the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City over its ruins.
On the other side across the way (looking away from the cathedral towards the left of the plaza) is the Palacio Nacional, where the President of Mexico resides. This is of course the center of a boiling political hotspot, and many people come to the plaza to demonstrate their views within close proximity of the jefe de gobierno. Which ever candidate is chosen, there is predicted to be massive demonstrations either way, and of course, the Zocalo will be there to host the events.