Metro Pino Suárez

metro Pino Suarez — Photo: ProtoplasmaKid on Wikimedia Commons.

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Metro Pino Suárez is a continual reminder of how rich the city’s history and culture remain to this day.

When the station first opened in September of 1969, it was already one of the most famous in the city. As a major transfer station, it connected two of the busiest metro lines. But more importantly was the discovery, during construction, of a major temple dedicated to Ehécatl.

Usually interpreted as an aspect of the Feathered Serpent deity, Quetzalcóatl, he’s also considered a God of Wind. Known as Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the figure is one of the creator gods and cultural heroes in mythical creation accounts.
Ehécatl is thus also associated with the four cardinal directions. The temple was built in the form of a cylinder, thought to ease the passage of the wind.
2017 excavations revealed artifacts that researchers believe are the remains of the calpulli, something like a combined family unit and trade guild. These would have been associated with the ancient Cuezcontitlan neighborhood. These are today being preserved in the northwestern section of the station.

José María Pino Suárez

The Pino Suárez Metro station is named for the vice president who was assassinated alongside President Francisco Madero in 1913. The culmination of the ten tragic days that led to the rise of the much hated Huerta, and his presidency, Pino Suárez is remembered for having fallen in the cause of the Mexican Revolution.

The part of Centro Histórico above the station is also known for it’s proximity to Metro Pino Suárez. The Church of Saint Michael the Archangel provided its former atrium, now called the Jardín San Miguel, for several of the southernmost entrances to this station.

Primarily a neighborhood dedicated to fashion and clothing retailers, the highlight just may be the massive Plaza Comercial Pino Suárez. Home to hundreds of clothing and footwear retailers, it’s just the most concentrated part of the city center’s fashion district. But don’t miss the adjoining Plaza San Lucas no matter how crowded it gets.