Balderas is an underground station on the

Mexico City Metro The Mexico City Metro ( es, Metro de la Ciudad de México) is a rapid transit system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in Mexico State. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it i ...

. It is located in the

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler (''tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, making him the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle" ...

borough in the center of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

. It is a transfer station along Lines 1 and 3.

Name and iconography

The station receives its name from the nearby Balderas street, which in turn was named in honor of

Lucas Balderas Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk" * ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities * ''Lu ...

, a Mexican military officer that participated in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...

and was killed at the

Battle of Molino del Rey The Battle of Molino del Rey (8 September 1847) was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Mexican–American War as part of the Battle for Mexico City. It was fought in September 1847 between Mexican forces under General Antonio León against ...

in 1847. It is said that his last words were "poor country of mine". The station pictogram depicts the colonial-era

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder duri ...

preserved on the nearby Plaza de La Ciudadela. The cannon is a reminder of the

Ten Tragic Days The Ten Tragic Days ( es, La Decena Trágica) during the Mexican Revolution is the name now given to a multi-day coup d'etat in Mexico City by opponents of Francisco I. Madero, the democratically elected president of Mexico, between 9 - 19 F ...

, which was a period a little bit longer than 10 days in which a coup the democratically elected government of

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...

took place. This chapter would end with the murder of President Madero and Vice-President

José María Pino Suárez José María Pino Suárez (; September 8, 1869 – February 22, 1913) was a Mexican statesman, lawyer, writer and newspaper proprietor who was a key figure of the Mexican Revolution and served as the 7th and last Vice President of Mexico fro ...

, as well as the rise to the presidency of

Victoriano Huerta José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (; 22 December 1854 – 13 January 1916) was a general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero w ...

General information

Nearby Metro Balderas are some interesting places, like La Ciudadela market, filled with Mexican handicrafts, the

José Vasconcelos Central Library of Mexico City José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernac ...

, and facilities of broadcaster

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

. Next to the library lies a ''

tianguis A is an open-air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or city neighborhood in Mexico and Central America. This bazaar tradition has its roots well into the pre-Hispanic period and continues in many cases ...

'' (street market) full of books old and new, comics, collectibles, etc. This station has an information desk and facilities for the

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, s ...

. It also displays a plaque unveiled on 19 September 2004, celebrating Mexican

rock musician Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and ...

Rockdrigo González Rodrigo González, (25 December 1950 – 19 September 1985), better known as Rockdrigo or ''El profeta del nopal'' ("The Nopal Prophet"), was a Mexican singer-songwriter. He died at age 35 with his girlfriend, Francoise Bardinet, when the apar ...

, killed exactly 19 years earlier in the

1985 Mexico City earthquake The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City are ...

and composer of a song titled " Metro Balderas". In September 2011 a real-size bronze statue of Rockdrigo was also unveiled inside the station. Although this station is totally underground,

cellular phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

signals (

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

and TDMA for several providers) are able to reach the platform. The station also has charging stations for mobile devices.

History

Metro Balderas was opened on 4 September 1969, as part of the first stage of Line 1, going from

Chapultepec Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1,695 acres). Centered on a rock formation called Chapultep ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tribut ...

. The station became the network's second transfer station, when the first stretch of Line 3, from Tlatelolco to Hospital General, was opened in November 1970.

Incidents

On Friday, 18 September 2009 a shooting occurred on the platform. A man was tagging one of the station walls with a marker, therefore, he was confronted by a police officer. He reacted by taking out a gun and killing the officer and a construction worker who tried to disarm him, he also left five more wounded. The man later claimed that he committed the killings "in the name of god" and was sentenced to 151 years in prison. On 29 December 2018, a woman gave birth to a child inside the station, at the Line 1 platforms, helped by personnel of the

Mexican Red Cross The Mexican Red Cross (Spanish: ''Cruz Roja Mexicana'') is a non-governmental humanitarian assistance organization affiliated with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to help those in dangerous situations, such as n ...

Nearby

*Biblioteca de México, public library. *

Escuela Libre de Derecho Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD) is a law school in Mexico City founded in 1912. Since its establishment in 1912, the Escuela has had as its only mission the teaching of law, breeding from the principles of academic freedom, outside of any form of ...

, law school. *

Chapultepec headquarters. *Parque Tolsá, park. *Centro Escolar Revolución, elementary school.

Exits

Line 1

*North: Tolsá street and Balderas,

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

*South: Avenida Niños Héroes and Avenida Chapultepec,

Colonia Doctores Colonia Doctores (''English: Doctors' Colony'') is an official neighborhood just southwest of the historic center of Mexico City. It is bordered by Avenida Cuauhtémoc to the west, across from Belen Street to the north, Eje Central to the east a ...

Line 3

*East: Avenida Arcos de Belén,

*Southeast: Avenida Niños Héroes and Dr. Río de la Loza street,

Station layout

Ridership

Gallery

Image:Metro_Balderas_02.jpg, Entrance to the station in the corner of Avenida Chapultepec and Av. Niños Héroes Image:Metro_Balderas_01.jpg, Entrance sign to the station Image:Metro Balderas Line 3 Platforms.jpg, Line 3 platforms Image:Commemorative plaque to Rodrigo Gonzalez.JPG, Commemorative plaque to

Image:Estatua_a_Rodrigo_González_(músico_mexicano)_Aka_"Rockdrigo".jpg, Statue honoring Rockdrigo

References

External links

* * {{Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City Balderas Railway stations opened in 1969 1969 establishments in Mexico Railway stations opened in 1970 1970 establishments in Mexico Mexico City Metro stations in Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City Mexico City Metro Line 3 stations Accessible Mexico City Metro stations Mexico City Metro stations located underground