Torre Latinoamericana
The 166 m tower that sat through an 8.1 earthquake while the buildings around it did not.
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Opened in 1956 as an insurance company headquarters, this 545 ft skyscraper held Mexico's tallest-building title for almost 27 years. What gives it weight is the ground it stands on: Moctezuma II's royal zoo, then a Franciscan convent, then a postwar office boom — and the fact that the 1985 earthquake left it untouched while several other structures in the downtown area were damaged.
What to look for
- The silhouette that topped the Mexico City skyline from 1956 until 1982, when the 214 m Torre Ejecutiva Pemex finally surpassed it
- Its site's layered past: a Mexica ruler's zoo, a Franciscan monastery that was later disbanded and its property confiscated, then this tower
- Evidence of the 1985 seismic story — an 8.1 magnitude event, zero structural damage here
Stands in downtown Mexico City; the central location puts it within walking distance of the historic center.
Torre Latinoamericana is one of 29 sights worth the detour in Mexico City, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Mexico City pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Mexico City
- Mexico City Metropolitan CathedralTwo hundred and forty years of construction, built on top of the Aztec sacred precinct — every generation of New Spain left something inside.
- National Museum of AnthropologyThe stone that defined how the world pictures the Aztec calendar is here — and 3.7 million people came to see it last year.
- Autódromo Hermanos RodríguezA 4.3 km ribbon of asphalt where two brothers gave their names — and their lives — to Mexican motorsport.
- Aztec Sun StoneA 24-tonne disc of olivine basalt that spent centuries buried under Mexico City's main square — then mounted on a cathedral wall — before anyone called it art.
- Palacio de Bellas ArtesStarted in 1904, halted by revolution and a sinking city, finished in 1934 — thirty years of delay show in every detail.
- University Olympic Stadium (Estadio Olímpico Universitario)This is where Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to the sky in 1968 — one of sport's most charged political moments, in a stadium that held 83,700 people.