El Monumento a la Revolución

The Monumento a la Revolución is a monument in Mexico City that commemorates the Mexican Revolution. The building was originally intended to be the Federal Legislative Palace of Mexico during the regime of President Porfirio Díaz. Considered the tallest triumphal arch in the world, it is 67 meters high. The project was planned in 1897, and the government allocated 5 million pesos for its construction. An architectural competition was called, but although the French architect Emile Bé nard did not participate, the Mexican government appointed him architect of the Federal Legislative Palace. The choice of a French architect, who proposed a neoclassical building, corresponded to the presidential will to show Mexico's place as an advanced nation. Porfirio Díaz laid the first stone in 1910, on the centennial of independence. Instead of local stone, the project was to use a steel structure and be clad with Carrara marble and Norwegian granite. Despite the overthrow of D&iacutez in May 1911 due to the Mexican War of Independence, the new president Francisco Madero continued construction until 1912, when funds ran out. The structure remained unfinished until 1938, and was finished under the presidency of Lá zaro Cá rdenas, but the project was cancelled and abandoned. Mexican architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia took charge of the recovery of the abandoned structure and transformed it into the Monument to the Revolution. The monument also serves as a mausoleum to the heroes of the Mexican Revolution Pancho Villa, Francisco Madero, Plutarco Elías Calles, Venustiano Carranza and Lázaro Cárdenas. The revolutionary general Emiliano Zapata is not buried in the monument, but in Cuautla, in the state of Morelos. On December 4, 2011, American singer Britney Spears performed there in front of 100,000 people