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    The Ángel de la Independencia column with its gilded Winged Victory on Paseo de la Reforma, Ciudad de México

    Photo by Carlos Valenzuela, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Ángel de la Independencia

    Landmark Cuauhtémoc, Ciudad de México Municipality of Cuauhtémoc Valley of Mexico

    Mexico City's gilded Winged Victory, raised on Reforma for the 1910 centennial, with the independence heroes' tombs in its base.

    From Mexico City: 10 min by car (5 km by road) How to get there ↓

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    How to get to Ángel de la Independencia

    • From Mexico City: about 10 min by road (~5 km)
    • Nearest airport: Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles) (NLU), 48 min by car to Tepotzotlán
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    Popular tours to Ángel de la Independencia

    Hop On Hop Off Bus at Mexico City ★ 1.7 (3) 11 h From US$25

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    About Ángel de la Independencia

    El Ángel, officially the Monumento a la Independencia, is the column in the middle of the busiest roundabout on Paseo de la Reforma, at its crossing with Eje 2 Poniente. Porfirio Díaz ordered it in 1900 to mark a hundred years since the start of the War of Independence, and the architect Antonio Rivas Mercado designed it, with all the sculpture by the Italian Enrique Alciati. The first stone went down on 2 January 1902, but in 1906, with the shaft already 25 meters high, one side began to sink, and the whole thing was torn down and rebuilt on better foundations. It was inaugurated on 16 September 1910, the centennial of Hidalgo's call to arms.

    The column is 36 meters tall and about 45 meters with its crowning figure, a 6.7-meter bronze Winged Victory covered in gold leaf. She holds a laurel crown in her right hand and a broken three-link chain in her left, for the three centuries of Spanish rule. At the base, bronze figures stand for law, war, justice and peace, a lion led by a child faces downtown, and marble statues of Hidalgo and other insurgents surround the pedestal. Because Mexico City keeps sinking, steps have been added over the years: the original nine have become many more, a measure of the subsidence. In the 1957 earthquake the Victoria fell and broke; she went back up, restored, in 1958.

    Since 1925 the base has been a mausoleum holding the remains of Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende, Aldama, Guadalupe Victoria, Vicente Guerrero, Leona Vicario and other heroes, with an eternal flame added in 1929. El Ángel is also where the city gathers, to celebrate national-team wins and to march, and it was closed for restoration from 2019 until October 2021. Most visitors simply admire it from the roundabout, but with a free permit from the Cuauhtémoc borough small groups can enter and climb the roughly 200 narrow spiral steps to the balcony near the top.

    How to get to Ángel de la Independencia

    Drive from Mexico City: 10 min, 5 km

    El Ángel stands in the roundabout where Paseo de la Reforma crosses Eje 2 Poniente. Metrobús Line 7, which runs along Reforma between Campo Marte and Indios Verdes, has a stop named El Ángel right at the roundabout, and there are Ecobici bike docks along the avenue. To enter the monument, first get the free permit from the Cuauhtémoc borough's Patrimonio Cultural office at Aldama and Mina, Colonia Buenavista.

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    Distances are in a straight line; the road is usually longer.

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    Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic or stops. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.

    Before you go to Ángel de la Independencia: hours, prices and tips

    Hours
    Climbs to the viewpoint have been scheduled daily from 10 am to 4:30 pm, by appointment (call 55 2452 3355). Uno TV · checked Oct 2026
    Entry
    Free, but you need a written permit from the Cuauhtémoc borough's Patrimonio Cultural office (Aldama and Mina, Buenavista); the group leader shows official ID. Uno TV · checked Oct 2026
    Time needed
    Each group gets about 15 minutes inside. Uno TV · checked Oct 2026
    Rules
    Groups of up to six, everyone aged 12 or over. The climb is about 200 steps on a narrow, dark spiral staircase with no landings, so skip it if you dislike tight spaces. Uno TV · checked Oct 2026

    Hours and prices change, especially around holidays. Each fact links to where we checked it.

    Visiting Ángel de la Independencia: what to see and do

    Look up at the gilded Winged Victory with her laurel crown and broken chain.
    Walk around the base to see the bronze lion with the child and the allegories of law, war, justice and peace.
    Find the marble statues of Hidalgo and the other insurgents on the pedestal.
    Visit the mausoleum with the urns of Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende, Leona Vicario and other heroes.
    With a borough permit, climb the narrow spiral stairs to the balcony for the view down Reforma.
    Come on a Sunday morning, when Reforma closes to cars for cyclists.

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    Pick up a car at NLU (Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles)): about 48 min by road to Tepotzotlán, then 33 km more to Ángel de la Independencia, on your own schedule.

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    Flights

    The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Mexico City (Felipe Ángeles) (NLU), about 48 min by road from Tepotzotlán, the base for Ángel de la Independencia.

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    When to go to Ángel de la Independencia cool

    Ángel de la Independencia shares the climate of Tepotzotlán, 33 km away. The best months to visit are January, February, March, and December.

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    The closest Pueblo Mágico: Tepotzotlán

    Churrigueresque facade and tower of San Francisco Javier with its atrium cross, Tepotzotlán, Estado de México cool
    Estado de México Tepotzotlán

    Tepotzotlán is the Pueblo Mágico closest to Ángel de la Independencia, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

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    Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.