Palacio Nacional

The Palacio Nacional occupies the eastern side of the Zocalo, the main square of Mexico City, standing on the site once occupied by the palace of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II before the Spanish conquest, and by a subsequent viceregal palace built from the ruins of that earlier structure. The building was substantially reconstructed after a 1692 riot destroyed much of its interior, and it was later expanded with an additional story in the 1920s to reach its present three-story form, serving today as the seat of Mexico's federal executive power. Its central stairwell and upper corridors are covered by a series of large murals painted between 1929 and 1951 by Diego Rivera, depicting the sweep of Mexican history from the pre-Columbian era through the Spanish conquest to the twentieth century. The palace also houses the Liberty Bell rung by the priest Miguel Hidalgo to launch Mexico's war of independence in 1810, displayed above its main entrance and rung each year on Independence Day.