Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/212

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184
CITIES AND ROUTES OF TRAVEL.

in 1667, at a cost of $1,750,000. It covers a space of about 432 X 200 feet. This Cathedral is the largest in North America. Some of the paintings within are said to be the work of Murillo. The Emperor Iturbide is buried in one of the chapels. The Aztec temple, or teocalli, formerly occupied the site of the Cathedral. The famous Calendar-Stone leans against the wall of this building. It is twelve feet in diameter, three feet thick, and weighs twenty-five tons. The Sagrario has a beautifully carved façade. Just east of it is a monument erected to the memory of the distinguished engineer Enrico Martinez, which contains a gauge to register the level of Lake Texcoco in the pedestal.

2. The Palace, which is built on the site of that of Montezuma, is the largest building in Mexico, the front measuring 675 feet. It contains the Embassadors' Hall, or Sala de Embajadores, and Maximilian's Coach. The former is a room about 310x30 feet, with a throne at the southern end for the President and his Cabinet. It has, among other objects, full-length portraits by Segredo and other Mexican artists of the heroes of the War of Independence, such as Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende, and others; also portraits of Juarez, Diaz, and Washington, and a large painting of the great battle of Puebla, of May 5, 1862.
Maximilian's Coach is in a room on the ground-floor, near the center of the Palace. The body of the vehicle is painted dark red. The wheels are gilded, and the interior is lined with white-silk brocade, with trimmings of heavy silver thread. There is no other coach of equal magnificence in the Western World. It surpasses in elegance the imperial carriages of Russia. Strangers should not fail to see it. The doors of the Embassadors' Hall and of the room containing the coach are always locked. The keys may be obtained at the office of the Governor of the Palace, which is near the middle door of the façade. (A fee of one real should be paid to the mozo who shows