Landscape Information
The second largest city park in Latin America, its 2140 acres of varied terrain contain four distinct sections, the oldest dating to 1460 when it was designed by Nezahualcóyotl for Emperor Moctezuma as a garden and aqueduct that served as the source of water for the city. In 1530 Charles V of Spain dedicated the site as a park, which, centuries later, hosted a crucial Mexican-American War battle. Maximillian of Hapsburg in the 1860s established his residence in Chapultepec Castle, sited on a prominent bluff, and in 1907, the park was redesigned, opening in 1910. The zoo was established later (1924), complemented subsequently by the National Museum of Anthropology and Museum of Modern Art (1964) and other cultural institutions. That same year, a second section opened to the immediate west, with a focus on recreation and athletics. By 2001 deferred maintenance triggered citizen groups to partner with city officials to rehabilitate the park, raising funds from one million private citizens and corporations.
Citizen groups commissioned landscape architect Mario Schjetnan and his firm Grupo de Diseño Urbano (GDU) to prepare a master plan for Chapultepec Park (Bosque de Chapultepec). To undertake these improvements the park was closed for seven months allowing lighting to be upgraded, water-related infrastructure rehabilitated, and water quality enhanced; new amenities such as food courts and carts introduced; the park’s primary entrances rehabilitated; and acres of forest restored. Thousands of trees were pruned, removed, or retained, including 140 Montezuma cypress specimens that are more than three centuries years old.
In 2006 Schjetnan designed a thirteen-acre botanical garden and a generous, pedestrian promenade that replaced a former road connecting the National Museum of Anthropology (1964) with the Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum (1981). Intended to lure visitors to underutilized sections of the park, an 820-foot-long Fountain Promenade, lined with mature juniper trees and organized around a traditional acequia (irrigation ditch). Projects undertaken by GDU (2003–2022) included the rehabilitation of park drives and Composers’ Walk, a grand pedestrian promenade.
In 2008 the Fountain Promenade received an Honor Award in General Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).
