The original park was less than half the size of the current one, reaching only from where the Palacio de Bellas Artes is now to the location of the Hemiciclo de Juárez. What is now the western section of the park originally was a plain plaza built during the
Inquisition in Mexico and known as
El Quemadero (The Burning Place). Here witches and others convicted by the Inquisitors were publicly
burned at the stake. By the 1760s, the Inquisition had nearly come to an end, and in 1770, viceroy Marqués de Croix had this plaza torn up to expand the park. The park was expanded again in 1791, when the Count of Revillagigedo built a wooden fence around the park to make it exclusive for the nobility. However, when
Mexican Independence was won in 1821, the Alameda was the center of popular celebrations. In 1846, when President
Santa Anna rode triumphantly into Mexico City, he ordered the fountains in the park be filled with alcohol. In 2012, the park went through a rehabilitation which began in May and was completed in December. The renewal included replacing the damaged pavement with marble, the improvement of the vegetation (including the planting of new trees), new light posts, and improvement of existing park features (e.g. benches and the fountains). As part of the rehabilitation, the once ubiquitous
street vendors are no longer allowed to operate within the park. File:Large screen of the Palace of the Viceroys of Mexico, ca. 1676-1700, Mexico City, Museum of the Americas, anonimous painter.jpg|
Views of the Alameda (today called Alameda Central)
and the Palace of the Viceroys of Mexico, anonymous painter, Mexico City, ca. 1676.
Museum of the Americas, Madrid. File:La Alameda de México Mexico City 18th century Museo de América.jpg|
La Alameda de México, anonymous painter, 18th century, Mexico City.
Museum of the Americas, Madrid. File:Stroke of the Alameda Central by Eduardo Mogg.18th century.jpg|Plan of the Alameda, ca. 18th century File:Alameda Mexico City 1848.jpg|The Alameda Central in 1848 by
Nathaniel Currier.
Museo Amparo,
Puebla City. File:The Alameda of Mexico, taken from a balloon.jpg|
The Alameda of Mexico, taken from a balloon,
Casimiro Castro, ca. 1869.
New York Public Library. Image:The Kid - Diego Rivera.jpg|Detail of
Diego Rivera's
Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central, 1947 File:Alameda Central 20th century. Mexico City.jpg|1944 aerial photo of the Alameda Central During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Mexico City authorities closed the Alameda Central and other public spaces in the
historic centre to prevent crowds from gatherings, in an effort to decrease COVID-19 transmissions. The closure of the Alameda and other historic public spaces affected some vulnerable populations, including
homeless people,
beggars,
street vendors,
street performers, and male
sex workers, to the extent that they resisted leaving or found ways to return to
public space, revealing different forms of long-lasting
social inequalities and struggles for the use of
urban space. ==Gallery==