Parque México, Urban park in Hipódromo, Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico.
Parque México is a nine-hectare elliptical park in Colonia Hipódromo, its organic paths winding past ponds, artificial waterfalls and light posts shaped like tree trunks. At its centre, the Foro Lindbergh open-air theatre is framed by five concrete pillars and a serpentine pergola, with dressing rooms behind reliefs by Roberto Montenegro. The main entrance on Calle de Michoacán opens through two metal gates onto the Fuente de los Cántaros.
The park occupies the former racetrack of the Jockey Club de México, part of the hacienda of the Countess of Miravalle. In 1924 the De la Lama & Basurto company bought the track to build Colonia Hipódromo; works began in 1926 under José Luis Cuevas Pietrasanta, who kept the elliptical track outline. The final layout is attributed to architect Leonardo Noriega and engineer Javier Stávoli.
The Foro Lindbergh, an open-air Art Deco theatre seating 8,000, takes its name from US aviator Charles Lindbergh, who visited Mexico with his plane Spirit of St. Louis in 1927; it opened in 1928. Its stage is framed by five concrete pillars, and reliefs of women holding the masks of tragedy and comedy, by painter Roberto Montenegro, decorate the dressing-room facades. The main entrance on Calle de Michoacán holds the Fuente de los Cántaros, a sculpture of an Indigenous woman with large jars by José María Hernández Urbina, modelled by Luz Jiménez, who also posed for Diego Rivera.
The main entrance is on Calle de Michoacán, where two metal gates flank the Fuente de los Cántaros; the park lies two blocks from Avenida Insurgentes. Paths follow an elliptical, organic layout, so the Foro Lindbergh and the duck pond are reached by curving walks rather than straight cuts. A 2008 renovation added better lighting and an irrigation system, and residents still debate whether walking on the grass should be allowed.
The clock tower once played classical music on the hour, and in 2015 a plaque commemorating the Armenian Genocide centennial was added to it, alongside a bust of Albert Einstein installed the same year. The Foro Lindbergh's stage relief, "Alegoría al Teatro" by Roberto Montenegro, shows women holding the masks of tragedy and comedy.
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