Jardín Juárez

Right next to Cuernavaca's zócalo, between the Government Palace and the Teatro Ocampo, the Jardín Juárez covers about 2,700 m² and is said to be the oldest garden in the city. It is a public square looked after by the state government, with shaded benches and a cast-iron bandstand in the middle that serves as the downtown meeting point.

The square was laid out in 1866, during Maximilian's empire, and appears on the first city plan as Plaza Maximiliano. While liberals were fighting the French it was renamed Plaza de la Constitución. In 1881 twelve lamps were put up, later replaced by gas lights, and in 1890, under governor Jesús H. Preciado, the paving was redone, sixteen iron benches were added and the bandstand went up. Part of the money came from theatre shows staged by a group of local young people. It has been the Jardín Juárez ever since.

The bandstand arrived in pieces from Britain in 1890, ordered by Manuel Ríos y Peña, the state's revenue director, and Governor Preciado. Some accounts trace it to the iron foundries of Glasgow, and the frame was hauled up to Cuernavaca by mule under the eye of a Spanish carrier, Francisco Balmori. It is often credited to Gustave Eiffel, of the Paris tower, but no document backs that up, so treat it as local lore.

These days the bandstand hosts concerts and danzón evenings, and its base, once a store for chairs and tools, holds juice stands. It makes an easy break between the Palacio de Cortés, the cathedral and the Jardín Borda, all a few blocks away.