5th Section of Chapultepec Park
In 2024, the 5th Section of Chapultepec Park (5ta. Sección del Bosque de Chapultepec) was established on the property located at Agustín Melgar 73, east of the 1st Section, on “the island” between the avenues Paseo de la Reforma, Chapultepec, Constituyentes, and Circuito Interior Maestro José Vasconcelos, in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood of Mexico City. The property is a privately owned 251 m² lot with an existing five-story, 1,000 m² building, without historical or architectural value, and located outside the official boundaries of Chapultepec Park, renovated and integrated to the park, expanding its area from 866.37 to 867.37 hectares.
The 5th Section of Chapultepec Park is the smallest and most beautiful of all its sections, as well as the first and only self-managed one. It has never been seat of a poet-king nor military academy nor residence of emperors nor imperial palace nor viceroy’s retreat nor presidential mansion nor museum nor exclusive restaurant. Unlike the first four sections, whose architecture, art, and management are the product of multiple coalitions and interests of the State spanning from the Spanish Colonial Rule period to the present, the 5th Section of Chapultepec Park emerges as an alternative committed to the local artistic community. It does not seek to represent personal or past interests but to foster critical dynamics that respond to our present.
Within the 5th Section of Chapultepec Park stands El Castillo de Chapultepec, the world’s first mansion-studio developed by the architecture office APRDELESP.
Chapultepec Park
Chapultepec Park was inhabited by the Olmecs, Teotihuacanos, Mayas, Toltecs, and Aztecs. Over the centuries it has been expanded and altered on several occasions: Nezahualcóyotl and Moctezuma carried out major works such as an aqueduct to supply water to Tenochtitlan, baths, and a botanical garden, planting ahuehuetes (some of which still survive) and plants from other regions; in 1521, shortly after the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Hernán Cortés began the invasion of the forest and appropriated it as part of the Villa de Coyoacán; in 1530, by royal decree, it was granted to Mexico City as a place of recreation for the inhabitants of the new city; in 1785, by order of Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez, construction began on the Palacio Virreinal (Viceregal Palace), today the Museo Nacional de Historia (National History Museum); in the 1960s, under the logic that if people did not go to museums, they should be built in places where they would visit them, the Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) and the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Museum of Anthropology and History) were built; in 2019, Andrés Manuel López Obrador launched the renewal project “Chapultepec: Naturaleza y Cultura” (“Chapultepec: Nature and Culture”) and the 4th Section of Chapultepec Park was annexed; in 2024, the 5th Section of Chapultepec Park was established and annexed…
Currently, Chapultepec Park is visited by approximately 15 million people per year (200,000 every weekend), and it consists of the following 5 sections:
1st Section: Casa del Maíz y la Cultura Alimentaria, Kiosko Marieta (Nevería Roxy Chapultepec), Parque de La Amistad, Parque Líbano, Parque “El Japonés”, Parque Winston Churchill, Memorial a las Víctimas de la Violencia en México, Parque Tamayo, Fuente Grutas, Fuente Ornamental del Lago Mayor, Fuente “El Pescador”, Hemiciclo Juventino Rosas, Espejo de Agua, Fuente de las Américas, Fuente y Jardín de la Comunidad, Fuente de Nezahualcóyotl, Starbucks, Cafetería Itzia, Librería Porrúa, Mercado de Flores “Cambio de Dolores”, Calzada Flotante Chivatito, Calzada Flotante Los Pinos, Parque Canino Gandhi, Jardín Escénico, Centro Cultural del Bosque, ANFIBIUM: Museo del Axolote y Centro de Conservación de Anfibios, Museo de Sitio y Centro de Visitantes del Bosque de Chapultepec, Complejo Cultural Los Pinos, Calzada de los Poetas, Calzada Heroico Colegio Militar “La Milla”, Parque Gandhi, Lago Menor, Lago Mayor, Fuente de los Novios, Fuente de la Templanza, Fuente del Quijote, Fuente de las Ranas, Adagio o Fuente del Idilio del Amor, Pabellón Coreano, Monumento a José Martí, Kiosko del Pueblo, Las Tazas, Baños de Moctezuma, Ahuehuete “El Sargento”, Tribuna Monumental a las Águilas Caídas, Escultura Energía, Tótem Canadiense, Puerta Monumental de los Leones, Quijote en las Nubes, Obelisco a los Niños Héroes, Altar a la Patría, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Museo Nacional de Historia, Museo del Caracol, Museo de Arte Moderno, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Auditorio Nacional, Parque Infantil “La Hormiga”, Casa del Lago "Juan José Arreola", Terraza del Lago, Zoológico de Chapultepec Alfonso L. Herrera, Galerías Abiertas de las Rejas de Chapultepec, Galería Abierta Juventud Heroica, Quinta Colorada, Jardín de Adultos Mayores “Euquerio Guerrero”, Jardín Botánico, Audiorama, Espejo de Agua y Calzada del Rey…
2nd Section: Casa Tlalli, El Nido de las Ninfas, Pabellón de Cultura Comunitaria, Parque Rosario Castellanos, Parque de la Luz, Fuente Cósmica, Aztlán, LagoAlgo, Espacio CDMX, City Café “El Sope”, Bistró Chapultepec, Restaurante Del Bosque, Centro de Cultura Ambiental, Parque Lomas, Circuito Correr es Salud, Pista de corredores “El Sope”, Skatepark Constituyentes, Lago Menor, Lago Mayor, Parque infantil “La Tapatía”, Fuente Físicos Nucleares, Fuente Monumental del Lago Mayor, Fuente de las Ninfas, Fuente Guardianes del Futuro, Fuente Mito del Agua, Fuente Xochipilli, Cárcamo de Dolores, Papalote Museo del Niño, Museo de Historia Natural y Cultura Ambiental, Fuentes de las Víboras, Paseo de los Compositores, Museo Nacional de la Energía y Tecnología…
3rd Section: Paseo Memorial, Barranca de Barrilaco, Mirador Dolores, Plaza Guadalupe Posada, Bosque Clausell, Lienzo Charro, Vaso regulador de Dolores, Foro Alfonso Reyes, Serpientes y Escaleras, Parque de Cultura Urbana (PARCUR), Parque Cri-Cri, Biblioteca de semillas, Panteón Civil de Dolores, Centro Hípico de la Ciudad de México, Federación Mexicana de Jardinería y Arreglo Floral…
4th Section: Manantial de Santa Fe, Parque Polvorines, Ermita Vasco de Quiroga, Ex fábrica de pólvora de Santa Fe, Bodega Nacional de Arte, Cineteca Nacional Chapultepec…
5th Section: El Castillo de Chapultepec…
It was a sanctuary of the utmost importance for Mexicans.
–Fray Diego de Durán
Mexicans held it as something divine; they cleaned and pruned it regularly and with the greatest care.
–Juan de Torquemada
