Located in the heart of the Bosque de Chapultepec and covering 56,000 square meters (14 times larger than that of White House), the Presidential Palace was the place where Lázaro Cárdenas, Ávila Camacho, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Luis Echeverría, José López Portillo, Miguel de la Madrid, Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto once lived.
The mansion was so large and opulent that in 2018, one of the campaign promises of the candidate Andrés Manuel was to turn the entire palace into a public space. When Andrés Manuel won the presidency, he stayed true to his promise and opened the palace to the public on December 1st, 2018.
Before its opening, many of the objects were removed by the last presidential couple. Currently, guests can see—amongst other things—the presidential bunker, the private pool, a pond of Japanese fish, an exclusive sports field, the steam baths, and even a private cinema room built in the basement of the main house.
There is also the cast iron grille that Ernesto Zedillo placed in the entrance, the Puebla marquetry with which Luis Echeverría revisited the floor, the paintings that Miguel de la Madrid “borrowed” from the Bellas Artes Palace Museum, and the secret bunker that Felipe Calderón built in the basement.
Included with the tour is a visit to the Estado Mayor Presidential Museum, where the most luxurious objects with which the presidents lived are on exhibit. Admission also includes full access to the historic building of the Molino del Rey, where a battle was fought during the Mexican-American War in the 19th century.
Mario Yair TS
