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Antiqua
Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung; Fußnoten mit Asterisken, Kreuzen und Paragraphen.
Mexico has been very much embel-
lished since the residence of the Abbe
destined to the school of mines, for
which the richest individuals of the
country furnished a sum of more than
three million of francs, l. sterling. Trans. See
chap. VII.
the principal places of Paris or Lon-
don. Two great palaces [hotels] were
lately constructed by Mexican artists,
pupils of the academy of Fine Arts
of the capital. One of these palaces,
in the quarter della Traspana, exhibits
in the interior of the court a very
beautiful oval perystyle, of coupled
columns. The traveller justly ad-
mires a vast circumference paved with
porphyry flag, and enclosed with an
iron railing, richly ornamented with
bronze, containing an equestrian
statue
at the expense of the Marquis de Bran-
ciforte, formerly viceroy of Mexico,
brother-in-law to the Prince of Peace.
It weighs 450 quintals, and was mo-
delled, founded and placed by the same
artist, M. Tolsa, whose name de-
serves a distinguished place in the his-
tory of Spanish sculpture. The me-
rits of this man of genius can only be
appreciated by those who know the
difficulties with which the execution
of these great works of art are at-
tended even in civilized Europe.
placed on a pedestal of Mexican mar-
ble, in the midst of the Plaza Major
of Mexico, opposite the cathedral and
the viceroy’s palace. However it
must be agreed that notwithstanding
the progress of the arts within these
last thirty years, it is much less
from the grandeur and beauty of the
monuments, than from the breadth
and straightness of the streets, and
much less from its edifices than from
its uniform regularity, its extent and
position, that the capital of New Spain
attracts the admiration of Europeans.
From a strange concurrence of circum-
stances, I have seen successivly, with-
in a very short space of time, Lima,
Mexico, Philadelphia, Washington,
Washington, and from the magnifi-
cence of its capitol of which I only
cities of Germany. By comparing
together impressions which follow in
rapid succession, we are enabled to
rectify any opinion which we may
have too easily adopted. Notwith-
standing such unavoidable compari-
sons, of which several, one would
think, must have proved disadvanta-
geous to the capital of Mexico, it has
left in me a recollection of grandeur
which I principally attribute to the
majestic character of its situation and
the surrounding scenery.
In fact, nothing can present a more
rich and varied appearance than the
valley, when, in a fine summer morn-
ing, the sky without a cloud, and of
that deep azure which is peculiar to
the dry and refined air of high moun-
tains, we transport ourselves to the top
of one of the towers of the cathedral
of Mexico, or ascend the hill of
Chapoltepec. A beautiful vegetation
surrounds this hill. Old cypress
trunks
ticha Trans.
in circumference, raise their naked
head above those of the Scinus, which
resemble in their appearance the
weeping willows of the east. From
the centre of this solitude, the summit
of the porphyritical rock of Chapolte-
pec, the eye sweeps over a vast plain
of carefully cultivated fields, which
extend to the very feet of the collos-
sal mountains covered with perpetual
snow. The city appears as if washed
by the waters of the lake of Tezcuco,
whose basin, surrounded with villa-
ges and hamlets, brings to mind the
most beautiful lakes of the mountains
of Switzerland. Large avenues of elms
and poplars lead in every direction to
the capital; and two aqueducts con-
structed over arches of very great ele-
vation, cross the plain and exhibit an
appearance equally agreeable and in-
teresting. The magnificent convent
of Nuestra Sonora de Gaudaloupe,
appears joined to the mountains of
Tepeyacac, among ravines, which
shelter a few date yucca trees. To-
wards the south, the whole tract be-
tween San Angel, Tacabaya, and San
Augustin de las Cuevas, appears an
immense garden of Orange, Peach,
Apple, Cherry, and other European
fruit trees. This beautiful cultiva-
tion forms a singular contrast with
the wild appearance of the naked
mountains which enclose the
among which the famous volcanoes of
La Puebla, Popocatepetl, and Iztac-
cihuatl are the most distinguished.—
The first of these forms an enormous
cone, of which the crater, continual-
ly inflamed and throwing up smoke
and ashes, opens in the midst of eter-
nal snows.FederalCity will undoubtedly one day be a
much finer city than Mexico. Phila-
delphia has also the same mode of con-
struction. The alleys of platanus,
acacia, and populous heterophylla,
which adorn its streets, almost give it
a rural beauty. The vegetation of
the banks of the Potomac and Dela-
ware is also richer than what we find
2,300 metres (7,500 feet) of elevation
on the ridge of the Mexican Cordille-
ras. But Washington and Philadel-
phia will always look like European
cities. They will not strike the eyes
of the traveller with that peculiar, I
may say that exotic character which
belongs to Mexico, Santa Fe de Bog-
ata, Quito, and all the tropical capitals,
constructed at an elevation as high or
higher than the passage of the great
St. Bernard.