2 Best Sights in Centro Histórico, Mexico City

The majestic cathedral that forms the northern side of the Zócalo is nothing less than the heart of Mexico City, its most famous building, and the backdrop to many of the country's most important historical events. Construction on the largest and one of the oldest Latin American cathedrals began in the late 16th century and continued intermittently throughout the next 300 years. The result is a medley of baroque and neoclassical touches. There are 5 altars and 14 chapels, mostly in the ornate churrigueresque style, named for Spanish architect José Benito Churriguera (1665–1725). Like most Mexican churches, the cathedral is all but overwhelmed by innumerable paintings, altarpieces, and statues—in graphic color—of Christ and the saints. Over the centuries, this cathedral began to sink into the spongy subsoil, but a major engineering project to stabilize it was declared successful in 2000. The older-looking church attached to the cathedral is the 18th-century Sagrario chapel. 

On the site of Mexico's first convent (1524), this church has served as a barracks, a hotel, a circus, a theater, and a Methodist temple. The main sanctuary's elaborate baroque facade is set past an iron gate and down a pretty flight of steps from street level. Inside, the Templo is one of the best places in Centro to get a sense of the seismic shifts that continue to unsettle Mexico City. Stand at the back of the nave and note the chandeliers, which appear frozen mid-swing: an effect of gravity combined with the incline of the aisle, which has sunken unevenly over the centuries. The church next door, in a French neo-Gothic style, was added later.