Monumento Hipsográfico de Enrico Martínez - 06000 Centro

Zero point of the roads of Mexico!

Tribute to one of the most important hydraulic engineers and cosmographers of his time: Enrico Martínez. Heinrich Martin, was a German who changed his name when he arrived in the capital of New Spain. Their collaboration was very important in the seventeenth century, in the drainage works of the basin of Mexico, since great floods were very frequent. The statue was designed by artist Miguel Noreña. On the four sides of its base there are striations that marked the average level of the lakes of Xochimilco, San Cristóbal, Xaltocan and Zumpango. The female figure represents the city that lays its laurels on a stone with the image of Gaudichaudia enrico martinezii, a herb named in honor of Enrico Martínez. At the base are also the official measurements of the meter, the yard and the rod.

??️?? HISTORICAL PLACE. MONUMENT TO ENRICO MARTÍNEZ. In a corner very busy by inhabitants of the CDMX and those who visit it, we pay very little attention to what is in the Plaza Mayor or Zócalo in the capital, one of the most important in the country and one of the largest in the continent. It is next to the Metropolitan Cathedral, that a statue is erected to commemorate Enrico Martínez (Heinrich Martins), a German who arrived in Mexico in 1589 and in 1607, took charge of the construction of the drainage of the incipient capital of the country. His mission was and has been impossible: to solve the floods in the city. In 1629, the rains turned into a deluge that flooded it: the affectation by diseases, putrefaction, destroyed foundations and fetid odors, lasted about five years. In 1878, at the beginning of the government of Porfirio Díaz, work began on a new drainage system for the basin of Mexico; The then president, was kind enough to recognize the importance and magnitude of the first work carried out and its executor, erecting a monument in his memory. It is interesting the fact that from this point the distances to the rest of the country have been measured since then, that is, it is kilometer zero.

The monument is undoubtedly a very important piece in the history of the city, taking into account the character's work and the lacustrine past of the capital. But the truth is sad the conditions in which it is found. They must rescue him.

As a cardinal point or references in questions of the water of different lakes that in their yesterdays were what it is is Cdmx In addition, the statue of Enrico, as if looking at his contribution in hydrography of what was and will be, is located on an immense lake ...