Monumento a la Raza (Mexico City)

The Monumento a la Raza is a 50 meters (160 ft) high pyramid in northern Mexico City. It is located in the intersection of Avenida de los Insurgentes, Circuito Interior and Calzada Vallejo, in the Cuauhtémoc borough.
The monument consists of three superimposed truncated pyramids decorated with several sculptures on the sides and an eagle on the tip. The pyramid was designed by Francisco Borbolla and the stone sculptures and its layout by Luis Lelo de Larrea. Many of the artworks were created during the Porfiriato period. The copper-and-steel eagle was cast by French animalier Georges Gardet and the bronze high reliefs were created by Mexican sculptor Jesús Fructuoso Contreras. The eagle was originally intended to be placed on top of the never-completed Federal Legislative Palace—later replaced with the Monumento a la Revolución in downtown Mexico City—, while the reliefs were based on those created for the Aztec Palace, presented in the Mexican pavilion of the 1889 Paris Exposition.
Its construction started in 1930 and was completed ten years later. It was inaugurated in 1940, on the Día de la Raza (Columbus Day), and it is dedicated to la Raza—the indigenous peoples of the Americas and their descendants. Even though the monument drew criticism from writers and historians for its choice of Porfirian components and caricaturizing Mesoamerican architecture, it contributed the area's to be known as "La Raza" and the naming of several nearby structures. The monument has been abandoned since at least 2022, as it has received minimal maintenance from the city government.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mexico was in a period of transformation. President Porfirio Díaz governed the country intermittently from 1876 to 1911. During his term, known as the Porfiriato, Díaz boosted the economy through the improvement of the railroad network and international businesses. This benefited the upper class and hacendados (landowners) but created inequality for the middle, working, and underclasses. The indigenous population was seen as a problem for the country's modernization and the government sought means to facilitate their integration into the Porfirian society. In 1911, Diaz was forced to resign after the Mexican Revolution broke out. The conflict lasted until 1920 and the Europhile government was replaced with one that promoted the indigenismo ideology—a political philosophy that exalts the Latin American indigenous population.
At the start of the 20th century, Spain adapted the Columbus Day into the Día de la Raza to celebrate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas on 12 October 1942. Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro y Díaz-Argüelles, president of the Unión Ibero-Americana [es] promoted it and multiple Latin American countries adopted it. In 1925, José Vasconcelos (1882–1959), Mexican philosopher, published the essay "The Cosmic Race", where he wrote that as the Native American genes were the last ones to be mixed with the other human races, a new race would surge to create Universópolis, where the distinctions of race and nationality would be suppressed. Three years later, the Día de la Raza was officially celebrated in the country.
The construction of the Monumento a la Raza began in 1930. The federal project sponsored the project and was designed by the engineer Francisco Borbolla and the architect Luis Lelo de Larrea. Borbolla intended to reflect the history of Mexico in the monument; Augusto Petriccioli, a Mexican architect, gave advice to Lelo de Larrea. It was completed in 1940 and it was inaugurated on that 12 October—the Día de la Raza.
The monument is dedicated to and is named after La Raza, a Spanish-language term referring to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and their descendants, used by Hispanophone Western populations that spread after the end of the Mexican Revolution and with the beginning of the Chicano Movement in the United States.
La Raza is usually literally translated to English as "the race", but the phrasal sense is "the people". Thus, the Monumento a la Raza is known in English by different names, including "Monument to the Race", "Monument to the People", "Monument to La Raza", and "La Raza Monument".
The Monumento a la Raza is a 50 meters (160 ft) high pyramid built with three superimposed truncated pyramids made of concrete. It has four sides, each built with sloped smooth walls over the rafters, that are decorated as well with reliefs based on the Xochicalco's Feathered Serpent.
The sculpture of the eagle on top is placed on a pedestal and it is made of copper and steel. It stands on a nopal plant with its wings spread; its wingspan is 5.75 meters (18.9 ft) long and it devours a 5.30 meters (17.4 ft) long snake. Georges Gardet designed the sculpture for the Porfirian Federal Legislative Palace. Only the foundations had been established when Díaz was dismissed from his position as president. Years later, Mexican architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia replaced the project with the Monumento a la Revolución.
Each side of the pyramid's apex features one high relief created with bronze castings by Jesús Fructuoso Contreras. They represent the Tlatoque Itzcoatl (1380–1440), ruler of Tenochtitlan; Nezahualcoyotl (1402–1472), ruler of Texcoco; Totoquihuatzin [nah] (c. early 16th century), ruler of Tlacopan; and the last Aztec Emperor, Cuauhtémoc (c. 1497–1525). Contreras cast them for the Aztec Palace, presented in the Mexican pavilion at the 1889 Paris Exposition.
There are two staircases at the base; the south leads to the monument's top and the north leads to the main entrance. There are sculptures of serpent heads reminiscent of Tenochtitlan at the top of each staircase. On the remaining sides, there are two sculptures by Lelo de Larrea: Grupo de la fundación de México on the east and Grupo defensa de Tenochtitlán on the west. The monument's interior was intended originally for a museum; however, the space was used for the installation of pumps and motors for the fountains on the site.
The monument lies on the median strip of Avenida de los Insurgentes, near Circuito Interior and Calzada Vallejo, in the colonia (neighborhood) of San Simón Tolnáhuac, in the Cuauhtémoc borough. The monument can be visited daily from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Access to the monument was temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.
The monument was graffitied in late July 2022. Neighbors in the area reported that it has no surveillance at night. By 2023, it was reported that as the neglect persisted, it served as an informal homeless housing facility. An altar to the Santa Muerte was also found inside. Damage to some of the stone sculptures was also reported, as well as corroded metal elements. For this reason, Gabriela Salido Pulido, congresswoman of Mexico City, requested the Secretary of Culture of the entity to upgrade the monument to Capital Cultural Heritage status so that constant maintenance is guaranteed. Multiple fires have been reported inside the pyramid, caused by homeless individuals burning rubbish. Firefighters have extinguished these fires, but they have caused damage to the interior and resulted in cracks in the monument. According to an investigation by Reporte Índigo based on data provided by the Mexico City government, no budget has been allocated for its maintenance since 2018.
Santacilia called the Monumento a la Raza "ridiculous" and said it was a caricature of the Pre-Columbian architecture. Mexican writer Nikito Nipongo [es] (1918–2003) thought it was "espantoso" ("dreadful"). According to historian Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo, the monument is ironic, because it tries to depart "from the old regime's Francophilia", but it reuses many of the symbols and materials "created by the Porfirian years of experimenting in modernity and nationalism". Writer Donald R. Fletcher described it as an "imposing Mayan pyramid".
Thanks to the monument, the surrounding area is known as "La Raza". The nearby La Raza Hospital, the La Raza metro station, and the La Raza bus stations of the Mexico City Metrobús system (Lines 1 and 3) are named after the artwork and their pictogram depicts the pyramid's silhouette.