Santa María La Ribera, Mexico City — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Santa María La Ribera?

Four museums carry the colonia's name in the record. The Museo Universitario del Chopo heads the list, with the Museo de Geología de la UNAM and the Museo de Paleontología de la UNAM standing close by as the university's contribution to the neighbourhood. Railway history has its own room.

The Museo Ferrocarrilero Víctor Flores Morales completes the set, and one major park gives Santa María La Ribera the open ground that its blocks of mansions, tenements and small shops otherwise leave out.

What is the history of Santa María La Ribera?

Created in the late 19th century for wealthy families who wanted homes outside the city limits, the colonia reached its height between 1910 and 1930, then took in a middle class whose arrival in the 1930s started a second wave of building. Decline followed in the 1950s. Apartment blocks went up as Mexico City closed around it, and after the 1985 earthquake poorer households and economical housing filled the gaps left between the surviving mansions.

The city named it a Barrio Mágico in 2011.

Where is Santa María La Ribera?

Santa María La Ribera sits inside the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, a grid of mansion streets and tenements around one major park.