Donceles Legislative Palace

The Legislative Palace of Donceles, in Mexico City

The Legislative Palace of Donceles, recognisable by the six columns of its façade, is the seat of the Congress of Mexico City, where the chamber of deputies sits. The Mexico City audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this institutional building and the political system of Mexico, a federal Republic born from the Constitution of 1917, officially named the United States of Mexico.

The seat of the Congress and the federal Republic

Behind you stand the six columns of the façade of the Legislative Palace of Donceles, seat of the Congress where the chamber of deputies is. The occasion to evoke the political system of this beautiful country. Mexico is a federal Republic endowed with a Constitution established during the Mexican Revolution, in 1917. The executive power is held by a president of the Republic, elected for six non-renewable years by direct universal suffrage in a single round. The legislative power is bicameral, as in France: it includes a chamber of deputies, that counts five hundred members elected for three years, and a Senate of one hundred and twenty-eight members elected for six years. It must be known that Mexico applies a principle close to that of the United States: its official name, as surprising as it may seem, is moreover the United States of Mexico. The country is indeed divided into thirty-two states, that each possess their own parliament and a large autonomy. The palace itself, built in a neoclassical style, testifies by its solemnity to the importance accorded to the parliamentary institution. With its monumental columns and its imposing façade, it embodies the democratic life of the capital and of the whole country. A place of power in the heart of the historic centre, it recalls that Mexico City is also a great political capital. An institutional building and a seat of the Congress, the Legislative Palace of Donceles is a fine stop of the discovery of Mexico City.

What to see

Here you discover the seat of the Congress of Mexico City, recognisable by the six columns of its neoclassical façade, where the chamber of deputies sits; it evokes the political system of Mexico, a federal Republic born from the Constitution of 1917, officially named the United States of Mexico, divided into thirty-two states each endowed with their parliament. The Legislative Palace of Donceles is a place of power of Mexico City. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Legislative Palace of Donceles lies in the historic centre of Mexico City, reachable on foot or by metro. It is an institutional building whose columned façade you admire above all from the street; the interior access follows the conditions in force, which vary. You discover it during a walk in the centre.

What is the official name of Mexico?

Its official name is the United States of Mexico, because the country is a federal Republic divided into thirty-two states each endowed with their own parliament, in the image of the United States; its Constitution was established during the Mexican Revolution, in 1917, and its Congress, whose chamber of deputies the Legislative Palace of Donceles shelters, is bicameral.

Where is the Legislative Palace of Donceles in Mexico City?

In the historic centre of Mexico City, in Mexico.