Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) is a borough (demarcación territorial) in Mexico City. The former village became the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl "Coyōhuahcān," composed of "coyōhuah" (one who has coyotes) and "-cān" (place), and therefore means "place of those who own coyotes", which the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic village on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco dominated by the Tepanec people. Against Aztec domination, these people allied with the Spanish, who used the area as a headquarters during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and made it the first capital of New Spain between 1521 and 1523.

The village and later municipality of Coyoacán remained independent of Mexico City through the colonial period into the 19th century. In 1857, the area was incorporated into the then Federal District when this district was expanded. In 1928, the borough was created when the Federal District was divided into sixteen boroughs. The urban expansion of Mexico City reached the borough in the mid-20th century, turning farms, former lakes, and forests into developed areas, but many of the former villages have kept their original layouts, plazas, and narrow streets and have conserved structures built from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. This has made the borough of Coyoacán, especially its historic center, a popular place to visit on weekends.

Villa Coyoacán or historic center

left|thumb|300px|Street map of Villa Coyoacán.

To distinguish it from the rest of Coyoacán borough, the former independent community is referred to as Villa Coyoacán or the historic center of the borough. Consisting now of 29 blocks, it is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Mexico City, located 10 km south of the Zocalo (main square) of Mexico City. This area is filled with narrow cobblestone streets and small plazas, which were laid out during the colonial period, The area is filled with mostly single family homes, which were former mansions and country homes built between the colonial period to the mid 20th century. The Project for Public Spaces ranked the neighborhood as one of the best urban spaces to live in North America in 2005 and is the only Mexican neighborhood on the list. This area was designated as a "Barrio Mágico" by the city in 2011.

The center of Coyoacán is relatively peaceful during the week, but it becomes crowded and festive on weekends and holidays. After the Zocalo, the most-visited place in Mexico City is this historic center, especially the twin plazas in its center. According to the borough, the area receives about 70,000 people each weekend. People come to enjoy the still somewhat rural atmosphere of the area as well as the large number of restaurants, cafes, cantinas, museums, bookstores and other cultural attractions. Some of these businesses have been around for almost a century. Another serious problem for the area is the traffic jams and serious lack of parking in the historic center. The quantity of cars and the lack of traffic patrols have meant the proliferation of “franeleros” or people who illegally take possession of public areas such as streets to charge for parking.

Jardin del Centenario

thumb|Arcos del Jardín del Centenario

thumb|A street in Coyoacán

The historic area is centered on two large plazas filled with Indian laurel trees called the Jardin del Centenario and the Jardín Hidalgo. which were renovated, along with the areas around them in 2008. The green areas were rehabilitated, and areas were paved with red and black volcanic stone. For over twenty five years, these plazas, especially Plaza Hidalgo, and the streets around them were filled with vendors (wandering and with stalls). When renovation efforts began, 150 vendors were removed from the plazas proper with about 500 total including the surrounding streets. While the practice was illegal, it had been tolerated by authorities, even though it caused damage to the plazas and caused traffic problems. The borough began to issue some permits for vendors, but there was opposition. Eventually, a group representing the vendors obtained a court order to allow forty vendors to return to the plazas, citing the history of tolerating such activity in the past. This order is still opposed by some neighborhood groups, but as of 2010, there are still a limited number of these vendors selling in the plazas. In the center of the plaza, there is an early 20th-century kiosk with a stained glass cupola topped by a bronze eagle. This kiosk was donated to the then village by Porfirio Díaz for the then-upcoming Centennial of Mexico's Independence in 1910. The eagle design is one adopted by Mexico after the French Intervention. As the plaza is named after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a statue of the priest, created by Luis Arias can also be found on the plaza.

Casa Municipal (Casa de Cortés)

thumb|Casa Municipal

The Casa Municipal, also referred to La Casa de Cortés, is a building located on the north side of the Plaza Hidalgo. It has served as an administrative/governmental building since it was constructed in the 18th century. The erroneous name of Casa de Cortés (House of Cortés, referring to Hernán Cortés), comes from Coyoacán's association with the conquistador. Cortés did live in Coyoacán in 1521 and 1522, while the destroyed Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was being rebuilt into Mexico City, and the area was the capital of the colony of New Spain. However, Cortés never lived at the site, despite a plaque on building that says that he did. Cortés residence in Coyoacán was on lands that belonged to the then leader of the indigenous of this area, Juan de Guzmán Iztolinque, in the area where the La Conchita Church and plaza are found now. What Cortés eventually built here were administrative buildings for the offices used to manage the vast lands he was granted as the Marquis del Valle de Oaxaca, which included the Coyoacán area.

The current structure was built in the mid 18th century, by Cortés’ descendants (who still carried the title of the Marquis of the Valle de Oaxaca) to replace the old structure, which had deteriorated. Originally, this church and the cloister next to it were constructed as a monastery by the Dominicans, but the complex was transferred to the Franciscans.

thumbIn 2005, the San Juan Bautista church underwent renovations to its tower, atrium, facade, portal for pilgrims, the north and south sides and the cupola and more under the supervision of INAH and academics from UNAM. Prior to this, there had been no restoration work to the building for about a century. The cupola was particularly damaged, with trees and other plants growing out of it. Much of the work was to make straight many of the walls and floors, which had cracked and warped. Studies were done on the building to determine what materials in what colors were used in order to use the same. It was declared a National Monument in 1934. The work was sponsored by government and private funds.

Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares

Another landmark off the plazas is the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares. The museum is located just off the Plaza del Centenario, and features mostly temporary exhibits related to popular or mass culture such as one related to lucha libre wrestling. Calle Francisco Sosa alone has 65 structures catalogued by INAH for their historic value. The Instituto Italiano de Cultura (Italian Cultural Institute) on Francisco Sosa Street is house in a structure built between the 17th and 18th centuries and remodeled in the 20th. This structure is an adobe and stone mansion with a flat red façade with Moorish style decorative features. It has an inner courtyard with a tile decorated fountain and a private altar. It houses the cultural offices of the Italian Embassy. The borough is named after the old village of Coyoacán, where the borough government is seated. This borough is much larger than the village, extending for in the geographic center of the Federal District. Accounting for 3.6% of the Federal District, it is the tenth largest borough. The borough is bordered to the north by the boroughs of Benito Juárez, Iztapalapa, Xochimilco, Tlalpan and Álvaro Obregón. Border roads include Avenida Río Churubusco, Calzada Ermita Iztapalapa, Calzada de la Viga, Canal Nacional, Calzada del Hueso, Avenida del Bordo, Calzado Acoxpa, Calzada de Tlalpan, Avenida de Pedregal, Anillo Periférico, Boulevard de las Cataratas, Circuito Universitario, Avenida Ciudad Universitaria, San Jerónimo, Río Magdalena and Avenida Universidad.

Sixty-nine percent of the land is residential, 60% is open or green space and the rest is mixed use or commercial. The borough contains 167,157 housing units with between two and four occupants, which is 7.5% of the total of the District. It contains 7.2% of the total population of the Federal District. This population has fallen slightly from 640,423 to 628,063 (2000 to 2005) as the overall population of Mexico City has risen. In 2004, Coyoacán was ranked the fifth most livable neighborhood in North America, ahead of Rittenhouse, Philadelphia and behind Camden, Maine. Parks and other green spaces cover and can be found in most of the communities of the borough. Soil composition is of two types, of volcanic origin and the former lakebed of Lake Texcoco. Volcanic land is subdivided by volcanic rock which is decomposing and that which has not. The best known of the areas with still-hard lava rock is called the Pedregal, which covers the communities of the Ciudad Universitaria, the Pedregal de Carrasco, Santa Úrsula Coapa, Copilco el Alto, Viveros de Coyocan and the Villa de Coyoacán or historic center. The southeast of the borough is dominated by volcanic rock from an eruption of a now dormant volcano called Xitle. This lava bed covers the current communities of Colonia Santo Domingo, Colonia Ajusco and Pueblo de Santa Úrsula. Decomposing volcanic rock is mostly found by the former lake.

The borough is divided into 140 communities, classified as colonias, pueblos, unidades habitacionales and barrios. The oldest of these divisions are former villages which are distinguished by their colonial era churches and who still celebrate their feast of their patron saint much as they did when they were independent, with fireworks, masses, processions, folk and indigenous dance and more. A number of these villages also have certain unique traditions associated with these celebrations. These barrios and pueblos can still be somewhat distinguished by their narrow, winding roads and alleyways. Culturally, they are still distinguished by having their own histories and legends. In total, the borough contains 349 registered buildings of cultural or historic importance, with 157 of these in the historic center. While there are 70.7 km of primary roads through the borough, with of pavement, These sections bring in a large number of visitors, especially on weekends and holidays, with these roads unable to cope with the volume of traffic and need for parking.

La Concepción

thumb|"La Conchita" church in La Concepción

One neighborhood which is as old as the historic center is the La Concepción or La Conchita neighborhood (Barrio de la Concepción), an area where the Spanish conquistadors settled in the 1520s.

Most of the area's oldest buildings are located on this plaza, Calle Fernando Sosa, which leads to Villa Coyoacán and Calle Fernandez Leal. The Casa Colorada or Casa de la Malinche is located on a corner of the Plaza La Conchita, but it is not open to the public. It is said that Cortés built it for La Malinche, and historians believe Cortés had his Spanish wife, Catalina Juárez de Marcaida, murdered there. In spite of the house's historic and aesthetic value, it receives little attention. The reason for this is that La Malinche is often blamed for the downfall of the Aztec Empire, acting as a traitor to her own people.

La Casa de los Padres Camilos (The House of the Camillo Priests) is on Calle Fernandez Leal in the Barrio de la Concepción. This structure was part of a farm and hospice which was owned by a Camillian religious order. The brothers cultivated a number of crops including fruit trees and flowers. Today the main house is used for commercial purposes but the building retains many of its original architectural details. It is a small stone-block building with a door made of black stone. A hall was added in the early 1900s. Opposite the Casa de los Camilos is the Jardín Frida Kahlo which has a statue of the painter and a fountain.

Santa Catarina

thumb|Santa Catarina Church

The Santa Catarina neighborhood is home to a large number of Coyoacán's landmarks. It is located just west of the Plaza del Centenario along Calle Francisco Sosa. It is a small square with a bright yellow chapel named the Capilla de Santa Catarina. This chapel was built for use by the indigenous population in the very early colonial period. The building today conserves some of the original built in the 1520s when it was originally built as an open chapel, and ornamental work done in the mid 17th century, when the nave with cannon vault was added. Later a tower and a linterna were added, but these fell in the 1985 earthquake. Inside there are 400-year-old murals. It was declared a National Monument in 1932. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Casa de Cultura Jesús Reyes Heroles was inhabited by María Concepción Armida, who is being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church. It is said that she performed a number of miracles in this house. Behind this house is the Callejón del Aguacate, which is said to be haunted by the ghost associated with the woman, and local school children are known to go looking for the ghost.

However, in 1940, a Spanish Stalin supporter by the name of Ramón Mercader managed to gain entry to the house and to kill Trotsky with a mountaineer's ice axe. The room in which Trotsky was killed remains exactly as it was at that moment, including the papers and the books in their exact positions.

The Casa de Cristo (House of Christ) is located on Heroes Street in Churubusco. It was constructed in 1906 as a residence for Bertha Vizcayno de Vergara who remained there until 1967. Today, it is still private property but is used as a restaurant. It has three floors and twelve rooms, with walls of brick and limestone and wood roof decorated with tiles. The front has sandstone Ionic columns. The name comes from the inscription of "Casa de Cristo" over the main entrance. Much of Los Reyes’ traditions revolve around a crucifix imaged called the Señor de las Misericordias. According to legend, sometime in the 18th century, residents of Santiago Zapotitlan, today in Tlahuac borough, were carrying the image to Mexico City for restoration. Upon encountering a business producing pulque, they decided to go inside after leaving the image in a supposedly secure place. When they were done drinking, they could not find the image where they left it or anywhere nearby. A few days later a tlachiquero (one who takes nectar out of maguey plants) heard a child's cry in the area and found the image. Word went out to try to find which church the image belonged to. Representatives of various communities come to claim it, but none could lift the image. When it was the turn of the Pueblo de los Reyes, they prayed that the image would be light as a feather for them and the easily lifted it. They returned home joyous to have been chosen by the image. Later, representatives of Santiago Zapotitlan came to reclaim the image, but again it became too heavy to lift and it has remained in the church ever since. The festival called the Recibimiento del Señor de las Misericordia occurs in September in both Los Reyes and La Candelaria. It celebrates the arrival of the image according to the legend. From June until September, the image is sent out to visit various communities in the borough. During the ceremony to return the image to its home church, the people of La Candelaria bring the image and the people of Los Reyes receive it with much fanfare.

thumb|Templo de los Santos Reyes, dressed for 6 January festivities

On 6 January in the Pueblo de los Reyes, the main square of the community is decorated with flower portals and "carpets" made by carefully arranging colored sawdust on the ground. There are also processions and a ceremony called the vítor used to announce coming of the festival. Reeds are cut and decorated with multicolored crepe paper and half inflated balloons and then are given to children as they pass by on the streets. There is also a parade that features mojigangas which are large structures made of cardboard and paper in the shape of human figures. These are hollow and placed on the shoulders of parade participants. An image of the Nativity and the Three Wise Men is carried through the town on a truck from which bags of candies are tossed to children.

The image for the La Candelaria neighborhood is an image of the Virgin Mary called the Virgen de la Candelaria. The feast day for this image occurs on 2 February in the Pueblo de la Candelaria. This event is organized by a mayordomo who is chosen each year and last for ten days. It includes religious activities such as a novena and a special Mass. It also includes cultural, sporting and recreational activities, which also gives the event the alternative name of La Semana Cultural de La Candelaria (Culture Week of La Candelaria). During Holy Week, La Candelaria holds a passion play which runs about 4 km from the main plaza to the Huayamilpas Ecological and Recreational Park.

The feast day of Saint Ursula, patroness of Santa Ursula Coapa last for about a week. The first three days are dedicated to 40 hours of prayer. Other religious events include processions on Calzada de Tlalpan and the blessing of taxi drivers. Cultural and recreational activities include a marathon, fireworks, including those on large frames called toritos (little bulls) and castillos (castles), indigenous and folk dancing including Concheros, Santiagueros and Chinelos, and music played by wind bands especially from neighboring Tepepan and San Lucas Xochimanca.

Other traditional neighborhoods include San Lucas, San Mateo, El Niño Jesús, San Francisco and San Antonio. The San Lucas and San Mateo barrios are sliced through by small arroyos and used to be surrounded by cornfields and pastures for cattle. The El Niño Jesús and San Francisco barrios are filled with very winding alleyways over black volcanic rock, called pedregal, from an ancient eruption of Xitle. These two are separated from the historic center by Avenida Miguel A de Quevedo. The San Antonio barrio is very small with an equally small chapel by the name of San Antonio Panzacola. This chapel belonged to the Carmelites and is located alongside an old stone bridge over the Río Magdalena.

Pre-Hispanic Period

In the pre-Hispanic period, Coyoacán was originally an independent dominion or altepetl. It was a major center of trade on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. Its people were Tecpanecas, who were farmers and stoneworkers specializing in the volcanic stone from the old lava flow of Xitle. The earliest extant native pictorial of Coyoacán, the so-called Códice de Coyoacán, dating from a 1553 visita (inspection) gives a baseline for tribute and labor.

One important monastery was the Churubusco monastery, at which the Battle of Churubusco took place on August 20, 1847, during the Mexican–American War. Ten years later, the area became part of the Federal District of Mexico City when it was expanded by the 1857 Constitution. The area's popularity, both as a place to live and as a place to visit on weekends, along with its narrow winding streets has caused it to have some of the worst traffic problems in the city, with traffic jams and parking problems. In spite of the fact that there are six parking garages in the historic center, drivers in the area still jockey for spaces on the street. The six public garages are always full. This makes for big business for establishments which offer valet parking and for franeleros. Franeleros are people who illegally take over public street parking and charge for it. The franeleros charge to "take care of vehicle" but also threaten to damage those who refuse to pay.

Education

thumb|[[Escuela Preparatoria Coyoacán "Ricardo Flores Magón"]]

Elementary schools

  • Reino de Jordania
  • Tecayehuatzin]
  • Professor Jesús Silva Herzog
  • República de Checoslovaquia
  • Activa Paidos
  • República de Guatemala
  • República de Finlandia
  • Professor Fernando Brom Rojas
  • Centenario de Juárez
  • República de Suazilandia
  • Professor Samuel Delgado I. Moya
  • Professor Francisco Javier Lilly Huerta
  • Professor Anton Semionovich Makarenko

Middle schools

  • Diurna Número 35 General Vicente Guerrero
  • Diurna Número 130 Guadalupe Ceniceros de Zavaleta
  • Diurna Número 139 José Enrique Rodó
  • Diurna Número 127 Ramón López Velarde
  • Diurna Número 145 José Guadalupe Nájera Jiménez
  • Diurna Número 149 David Alfaro Siqueiros
  • Diurna Número 178 Madame Curie
  • Diurna Número 208 Salvador Díaz Mirón
  • Diurna Número 280 Max Shein
  • Diurna Número 101 Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Técnica Número 1043 Luis Enrique Erro
  • Técnica Número 1084 Belisario Domínguez Palencia
  • Centro de Educación Artística (CEDART) Diego Rivera
  • Técnica Número 67 Fco. Diaz de Leon
  • Técnica Número 49 José Vasconcelos

Senior high schools

  • Centro de Estudios Tecnológicos Industrial y de Servicios 2
  • Colegio de Bachilleres 4
  • Colegio de Bachilleres 17
  • Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos 13 (IPN)
  • Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades Plantel Sur
  • Centro de Estudios Superiores Navales
  • Centro de Educación Artística (CEDART) Diego Rivera
  • National public high schools of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Escuela Nacional Preparatoria include: Escuela Nacional Preparatoria 6 "Antonio Caso"
  • Public high schools of the Instituto de Educación Media Superior del Distrito Federal (IEMS) include: Escuela Preparatoria Coyoacán "Ricardo Flores Magón" (Viejo Ejido de Santa Úrsula)

International schools

  • Lycée Franco-Mexicain (Liceo Franco Mexicano) - Coyoacán Campus

Other private schools

  • Colegio Olinca Periférico Campus
  • Escuela Mier y Pesado
  • Colegio Anglo Mexicano de Coyoacán in Colonia San Francisco Culhuacán
  • Colegio Anglo Americano de Coyoacán in Fraccionamiento Paseos de Taxqueña

Ciudad Universitaria

The Ciudad Universitaria (University City) is UNAM's main campus. Designed by architects Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, it was built in the 1950s to move the university from the scattered colonial buildings in the historic center of Mexico City.

It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007.

The Biblioteca Central (Central Library) is a large rectangular prism in the center of the campus. It was built by Gustavo Saavedra, Juan Martínez and Juan O'Gorman. O'Gorman was in charge of decorating the four sides with multicolored mosaics of stone pieces brought from all parts of Mexico. The murals relate to the history of Mexico. The north side reflects the pre-Hispanic period; the south reflects the colonial period and the east is from the modern period. The west side is meant to represent Mexico today with the coat of arms of the university in the center with José Vasconcelos' motto of "Por mi raza hablará mi espíritu" (For my race, speaks my spirit.). These mosaics are the largest of their type in the world.

The Torre de Rectoría (Dean's Tower) is the main administration building for UNAM. It was designed by Mario Pani, Enrique del Moral and Salvador Ortega as a tower of glass and marble, decorated with three-dimensional murals by David Alfaro Siqueiros, mixing painting and sculpting. The north side has a piece entitled "El Pueblo a la Universidad y la Universidad al pueblo" (People to the university and University to the People). The work on the south side is called "Estudiantes que extiende sus brazos a la cultura" (Students who extend their arms to culture). On the east side is an unfinished work related to the culture of Mexico. It also has a series of nude sculpture by Gabriel Ponzanelli.

The Casa del Sol (House of the Sun) was constructed by the Aguilar and Quevedo families. In this house, Venustiano Carranza composed the Constitution of 1917. Legend says it was originally a country home for Miguel Angel de Quevedo. Today it is a privately owned building with a restaurant and catering business. The Casa de Cultura Ricardo Flores Magón was opened in 1986 with the name of Casa del Pueblo. Its currently named after a journalist and ideologue from the Mexican Revolution. This building is one of the few built specifically to be a cultural center to serve the eastern side of the borough, which is densely populated due to apartment complexes such as the CTM Infonavit Culhuacan and the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria. The building contains a stage theater, a multipurpose room, an open-air theater and a library. Other museums in the borough include the Museo de Arte Escultórico Geles Cabrera on Xicotencatl Street in Colonia del Carmen, the Museo del Automóvil on Avenida Division del Norte in Pueblo de San Pablo Tepetlapa, the Museo del Retrato Hablado on Avenida Universidad in Colonia del Carmen, Museo Cultural de las Artes Graficas on Calzada de Tlapan in Barrio de San Diego Churubusco and the Museo Alejandro Galindo on Avenida Santa Úrsula in Colonia Santa Úrsula. Other theaters includeTeatro Rafael Solana on Miguel Angel de Quevedo in Barrio del Cuadrante de San Francisco, Foro de la Conchita Forum on Vallara in the center, the Teatro Santa Catarina in Barrio Santa Catarina, the Teatro Coyoacán /Foro Rodolfo Usigli on Heroes Street in Barrio de San Mateo Churubusco, Teatro La Capilla on Madrid in Colonia del Carmen, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Calzada de Tlalpan in Colonia Country Club.

Estadio Azteca, located in the Santa Ursula area, is the home of the Club América and Mexican national soccer teams. It is also used for other events, including concerts, and hosted two FIFA World Cups. The rivalry, known as the Clasico Capitalino, is centered around the Coyoacán borough, as the home stadiums for both America and the Pumas are within a few miles of each other.

Twinning

Coyoacán is a sister City of Arlington County, Virginia, United States; it has also been a sister city of Clifden, County Galway, Ireland since 2012.

Notable residents

  • The band Calexico named an instrumental track on their 2015 album Edge of the Sun "Coyoacán."

References

Bibliography

  • Alcaldía de Coyoacán website