Toluca

Toluca, Mexico
State Capital
Toluca de Lerdo
UTC-5 (Central)
Postal code (of seat)	50000
Area code	722 / 729
Demonym	Toluqueño (a)
Website	Official website (in Spanish)

Toluca

It is mainly an industrial city that borders Metepec, one of the richest municipalities in the country. The Toluca Valley has a good level of infrastructure. Its airport is considered the first option to relieve Mexico City and the first stage of the "El Insurgente" interurban train will soon come into operation, later with a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour and a length of 58 km it will link Toluca with Mexico City. It is connected 66 kilometers to the east with the Valley of Mexico, made up of Mexico City and its metropolitan area.

Thanks to citizen pressure over the last decade, urban cycling is promoted and the agreement signed with the United Nations Organization for the use and respect of the bicycle as a sustainable means of mass transportation. Its tourist attractions are several due to the great cultural and artistic heritage that has managed to keep alive the union of Hispanic and indigenous culture. Its traditional portals, the Cosmovitral botanical garden and multiple parks, museums, centers and cultural events stand out, among which the Alfeñique Fair stands out, on the occasion of the annual Day of the Dead festival, and the Toluca International Film Festival.

Toluca is located at 2600 meters above sea level, being the highest capital city in Mexico and North America, which makes it temperate throughout the year with average temperatures ranging between 6 and 25 degrees Celsius during spring and summer, and from −5 to 20 degrees Celsius in winter. Its climate is temperate subhumid with rain in summer. Its altitude favors the practice of high-performance sports, but as it is one of the most polluted cities in the country due to the emissions of its industrial corridor and the poor motorized public transportation of the last 3 years, outdoor exercise carries some risks for health.

The

Etymology

When Toluca was founded by the

One of the rivals of Calixtlahuaca was Tollocan, a minor city-state before 1478. When Axayacatl destroyed Calixtlahuaca, he placed the imperial provincial capital in Tollocan. Calixtlahuaca and other towns in the Toluca Valley paid tribute to the Aztec Empire through Tollocan. After the Spanish conquest, the name Tollocan was changed to Toluca. Archaeologists have not yet located a major Postclassic settlement within the modern city. Either the pre-Hispanic city of Tollocan was destroyed and covered over by the expansion of Toluca, or else the remains of Tollocan could lie outside of the modern city. A small Postclassic site was discovered on the hill called Tolochi, which is in the north of the modern city, but the remains seem too insubstantial to have been a major provincial capital. The tree of "Las Manitas Rojas", which literally means "little red hands", was planted before the Spanish Conquest in what is now the monastery of Nuestra Señora del Carmen. This tree is significant because it shows that Toluca was important enough for the Aztecs to create a botanical garden.^[7]

Colonial period

In 1521, the Spanish conquered the Valley of Toluca. Leading the troops was Gonzalo de Sandoval, one of Cortes' many sergeants. Toluca's first governor was Pedro Cortés Coyotzin. The Valley of Toluca and what is now the city of Toluca were included in the concession made by King Carlos V of Spain to Hernán Cortés.

In 1524, the evangelization process started in Toluca. The most notable figure of this effort is Fray Andrés Castro, from

After the creation of the State of Mexico in 1825, the state capital moved to different cities several times.[4] until in 1830, Toluca was finally designated as the constitutional capital of the State of Mexico. In 1832, the building of "Los Portales" was started in downtown Toluca. In 1836, because of the centralization of the Mexican federal government, all branches of government were relocated to Mexico City after some were in Toluca for several years.

In 1847, thanks to Ignacio Ramírez, "El Nigromante" or the Institute of Literature opened. In 1851, the "Teatro Principal" was built by González Arratia. Mariano Riva Palacio was named governor of the state and he started the most important modernization process of the city in the 19th century. In 1881, The Industrial Union was founded, the railroad was opened and the Bank of State of Mexico created the first bills in the country. In 1882, the Teachers College was founded. In 1910, people celebrated a century of Independence, and the Plaza España was inaugurated.^[8]

Geography

The

Sierra Morelos Park is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away from the center of Toluca. This is a reforested area with a small artificial lake, a picnic area and playground.[13]

Climate

Under the

Outside of the metropolitan area, the economy is still based on agriculture and livestock, with some income from tourism. Only a little over four percent of the total municipal population engages in agriculture raising corn, wheat, beans, potatoes, peas, fava beans and oats on a little over half of the municipality's territory. Livestock raising is a greater source of income with 10,286 sites producing cattle, pigs, sheep and domestic fowl. Tourism is based on the Nevado de Toluca volcano and the archeological zone of Calixtlahuaca. Despite being little known internationally, they manage to represent about 50% of the state's tourism income.[19]

Toluca lies in the southern part of the valley and its economic influence is most strongly felt in the southern and central parts of the valley. The northern parts of the valley have closer ties to

Toluca is located in the economic center of Mexico. Toluca has become an important economic city because of its industries and infrastructure that produce drinks, food, textiles, cars, electric products and such. Since 1944, many industries have settled in Toluca rather than in other cities. In 1965, the industrial zone of Toluca-Lerma-Tianguistenco, which is located on the north side of Toluca, began to attract industries to the area. The city now has five additional major industrial parks: Corredor Industrial Toluca, Parque Industrial Lerma, Parque Industrial Exportec I., Parque Industrial Exportec II and the Parque Industrial El Coecillo.[21]

Chrysler's

Toluca has an infrastructure of highways that connect the city with the main cities of the country as well as its international Airport, and inter-city bus Station.[24]

The Libramiento (bypass) Toluca is a project to directly connect the Toluca-Mexico City highway to the east of the city to the Toluca-Atlacomulco highway the extends north. It will permit easier access to the airport as well as a bypass route for traffic heading from Mexico City to the west and northwest. The libramiento is already complete, but it is not used by many people because of the high tolls.^[25]

The highways that connect Toluca with Mexico City and Guadalajara are being expanded and modernized due to the "Mexiquese Outer Loop" (Circuito Exterior Mexiquense) project, which aims to improve major highways leading from Mexico City to the rest of the country.^[26] One proposed highway, called Autopista Lerma - Tres Marías y Ramal Tenango (Lerma - Tres Marías and Tenango branch highway), aims to improve transit between Toluca and Cuernavaca, as well as other cities to the south. Currently, almost all major roadways serving Toluca transit in the north. It will allow transit from Toluca to southern and eastern destinations bypassing Mexico City but connecting the city with the Mexico City–Cuernavaca highway. However, the project is opposed by Greenpeace Mexico as well as a number of local groups, primarily due to the possible damage it can cause to the "Great Water Forest" "Gran Bosque del Agua" forest, which contains an important aquifer for the Toluca, Cuernavaca and Mexico City metropolitan areas. There are also concerns that the highway will extend development into small towns that do not want it.^[27]

Rail

A

This airport has created 4,500 jobs and has contributed to the increase of commercial activity for the metropolitan area. It has also attracted many airline passengers who live in Mexico City to use the Toluca airport, which represents migration in potential consumers of 2.2 million passengers in 2007 and it is projected that for 2008 up to five millions travelers may utilize the Toluca Airport, which would make it the 4th busiest in the country.[8]

Bike sharing

Toluca's Huizi public bike share system was launched in 2015 with 27 stations and 350 bicycles. The system is operated by PBSC Urban Solutions.

Education

Since Toluca is the capital of the State of Mexico, there are several diverse and important educational centers such as the state-funded

UAEM, the state's public university, has its roots in the Literary Institute, later named the Scientific and Literary Institute, which was founded in 1828. It has been a prestigious institution and educated figures such as

Primary and secondary schools

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2014)

Private schools in Toluca include:

• Instituto Simón Bolívar Toluca

Landmarks

The center of the town is the Zócalo, also known as Plaza de los Mártires ("Plaza of the Martyrs"), which includes buildings such as the Palace of the State Government and the Justice Palace (Palacio de Justicia). The square is named after events that took place after the Battle of Tenango Hill during the

Los Portales represent the social and commercial life of the city. They are a composed of three sets of arches or portals that extend on the 3 sides of the city block that extends behind the main cathedral. Behind the sets of arches there is walking space that takes you around the stores that are contained within. The western arches follow the perimeter of what was the La Asunción Franciscan monastery. The eastern and southern arches were completed in 1836 by José María González Arratia. The original western arches were built by the Buenaventura Merlín. Each side consists of basket-handle arches, each with a balcony. Each side has its own name. The eastern one, with 37 arches, is called "20 de Noviembre" or "Constitución"; the southern one, with 44 arches, is called "Madero" and the western one, with 35 arches, is called "Reforma". There are four additional arches at the entrance to Avenida Independencia. Near Los Portales are some of the city's oldest businesses, some of which date from the 19th century such as the pharmacy on Calle Santos Degollado, a brass and iron workshop on Avenida Lerdo and a leather workshop on Avenida Juárez.[4]

The Plaza de Fray Andrés de Castro is located next to Los Portales and connected to the older arches by means of a passageway with a transparent roof. It is a semi-enclosed space which was once the

The Tercer Orden Temple is located to the side of the main cathedral. Its façade is integrated into the main cathedral's in the popular indigenous Baroque architecture of the 18th century. It was the seat of the bishopric until 1978, when it was moved to the main cathedral. The temple contains a number of paintings, including The Three Orders and The Family Tree of Saint Francis. The Cosmovitral entrance]]The Cosmovitral is located in a stone and ironwork building in the center of Toluca, designed in 1910 by engineer Manuel Arratia in order to accommodate the "16 de Septiembre" market. It was constructed in Art Nouveau and Neoclassical style, with an area of 5,000 square metres (53,820 square feet). It is now a botanical garden with more than 400 species of plants from all over the world. It also features a series of stained glass windows that are considered the largest in the world. These windows were created and designed by a Mexican artist named Leopoldo Flores. Cosmovitral was inaugurated in 1980 and completed in 1990. The stained glass ceiling represents the Milky Way and joins the "Hombre Sol" (Sun Man) with the Galaxy of Andromeda. It is a monumental piece measuring 3,200 square metres (34,445 square feet) with more than 30 thousand pieces and half a million glass pieces of 28 different colors coming from many different parts of the world such as Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Japan, Canada and the United States. It has a series of scenes that symbolize man's search of the light, the good and the wisdom to elevate his spirit to liberate him from the shadows of evil and the ignorance in an epic tale without beginning or end. At the spring equinox, the solar disc crosses the heart of "El hombre Sol" (the sun man), causing an explosion of light.^[8]

Toluca has a lot of green areas and among them is the Sierra Morelos park, this park is one of the largest in the city that covers 302 hectares is located on the slopes of Cerro de La Teresona and houses an important population of forests of pine, eucalyptus and oak.

The Santa Veracruz Temple is the home of a famous image of "Our Lord of the Holy Cross" also known as a "Black Christ". This image was originally housed in the San Francisco Temple, but the increasing number of worshippers dictated the building of its own sanctuary. Construction began in 1753, but because of friction between the Franciscans and worshippers, it was not completed until 1797. Although the original plans included two towers, only one was built, containing two hexagonal bodies, pairs of columns and balconies with semicircular rails. Both bodies are topped with domes, each bearing a cross. The space that was reserved for the second tower instead has an ornate clock.^[4]

Museums

Toluca, being the capital of the State of Mexico, is home of several important museums. It is second only to Mexico City in number of museums. Some of them honor important Mexican artists such as José María Velasco Gómez, Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez, and Luis Nishizawa, among others.

These museums are the following:

• The Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of
  Fine Arts) was founded in 1945 by the ex-governor Isidro Fabela. It is the oldest museum of Toluca. It displays art by José Juarez, Cristóbal de Villalpando, Miguel Cabrera, among others. It is housed in an 18th-century building that was once the "Descalced Carmelite Purísima Concepción" convent and built between 1697 and 1711. One of the most valuable pieces is a catafalque dating from the mid 18th century. Since these artifacts were almost always burned by Church authorities, this is an extremely rare piece.^[4]
• The Museo de Ciencias Naturales (Museum of Natural Sciences) has been located in
  Carlos Hank González. It presents expositions related to natural sciences. Also it holds Luis Camarena González
  's collections of butterflies, insects, mammals and crustaceans.
• The Museo de la Estampa (Print Museum) was dedicated in 1987 to graphic art. It displays
  chalcographic, serigraphic, offset and neographic art from Manuel Manilla, José Guadalupe Posada, Carlos Alvarado Lang, Alfredo Zalce, Rufino Tamayo
  , etc. It has seven display rooms and an embossing workshop.
• The Museo de la Acuarela (Watercolor Museum) was founded in 1993 and is one of the few museums in the world dedicated to watercolors. It has rooms dedicated to Mexican artists like Pastor Velázquez, Vicente Mendiola, Edgardo Coghlan, Ignacio Barrios and Ángel Mauro. It also has a Estado de México room with pieces which have won national prizes. It is located in a house that has always been known as "El Gallito" (Little Rooster), a name which appears in the crest of the main façade.^[4]
• The Museo de la Numismática (Numismatics Museum) was founded in 1987 by the state government in order to show Mexico's history through coins from the pre-Hispanic period up to the present day. It is one of a kind in Latin America. The collection of bills is very important because of its antiquity.^[4]
• The Museo José María Velasco (José María Velasco Museum) was founded in honor of one of the most famous landscape artists of the 19th century. It holds about 40 pieces from the artist as well as drawings and oil paintings. It has a library and a central patio where cultural events take place. The building was once occupied by Father Miguel Hidalgo before he fought in the Battle of Monte de las Cruces. Works on permanent display include: "The Volcanoes Seen from the Ocotlán Valley", "The Valley of Mexico from Molino del Rey" and "Self-Portrait".^[4]
• The Museo Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez (Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez Museum) also has a room of Mexican paintings from the 19th century. It has a collection of 225 oil paintings, watercolors and drawings which reflects Gutiérrez's evolution as an artist.
• The Museo-Taller Luis Nishizawa (Luis Nishizawa Workshop-Museum) was founded in honor of the artist in 1992. It has 7 halls and a library specializing in art and an information center. It is located in the old El Cóporo neighborhood, housed in one of Toluca's oldest mansions which is mentioned in numerous 17th century documents.^[4]
• The Centro Cultural Mexiquense contains three museums. The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) holds a great collection of Mexican paintings of the 20th and 21st centuries. The pieces come from other museums like Bellas Artes as well as from artist and institutional donations. Some of the artists represented are Gilberto Navarro, José Luis Cuevas, Siqueiros, Leopoldo Flores, etc. The Museo de Culturas Populares (Museum of Popular Cultures) displays a large collection of crafts, including items make of wood, bones, glass, seeds, as well as textiles, traditional toys and regional candy and other foods. The Museo de Antropología e Historia (Museum of Anthropology and History) has more than 1000 pieces on display, with an introductory room, five archeological rooms, seven ethnographic rooms and one historical room. Its theme is Mexico's place in the evolution of the hemisphere's history and geography, as well as the geopolitical and strategic importance of the State of Mexico. Some of the finest Aztec stone sculptures are on display, including an important image of the god Ehecatl.^[30]
• The Museo de Sitio (Site Museum) at Calixtlahuaca is located just north of the modern city of Toluca in its municipality. This small museum has some of the finds excavated at the site in the 1930s. It has a circular form in imitation of the famous circular temple of Calixtlahuaca.
• The CASART or Casa de Artesanias (House of Handcrafts) is located on Avenida Tollocan near the highway leading to Mexico City. This large outlet run by the government specialized in crafts produced in the Toluca Valley area. Items include sweaters from
  Metepec, Temascalcingo and Valle de Bravo, as well as wooden items from Santa María Rayón.^[31]
• The Museo Modelo de Ciencias e Industria (Modelo Museum of Science and Industry) is a science museum of Grupo Modelo, a leading company in the brewing industry.^[32]

Culture

Toluca is home to a series of traditional festivities such as the typical solemn "silent procession" that takes place every

Currently, there are two official orchestras: a State one and a Municipal one. The one from the State is the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. Higher education institutions have marching bands, and in some towns there are wind bands.

The dancing institutions include the

There is also a youth marching band of Toluca called "Eagles of Anahuac". This band was formed about 35 years ago and was the first youth marching band in the country.^[19]

Food and drink

Mexican food mixes European and Mesoamerican elements. In Toluca the most famous dish is

Toluca has a variety of traditional candies such as "alegrías", "jamoncillos" (a candy bar with flavors such as lemon, pineapple, apple or chocolate), "lemons" (lemons decorated with coconut), "chilacayotes" (pumpkin in syrup), "cocadas" (mainly made with coconut), "palanquetas" (a peanut bar covered with melted sugar).

Traditional drinks include "mosquito" and, as in many other regions of Mexico, "tepache". "Mosquito" is a drink obtained from the infusion of fruit in alcohol. "Mosquito" can be also flavored with sugar, syrup or honey.^[8] "Tepache", the popular beverage of fermented pineapple and other fruit, is not native to the Valley of Toluca since this tropical plant does not grow there.

Sports

Several professional clubs are based in Toluca:

Club	Sport	Founded	League	Venue	Opened
Deportivo Toluca F.C.	Association Football	1917	Liga MX	Estadio Nemesio Díez	1954
Deportivo Toluca F.C. Women	Association Football	2017	Liga MX Women	Estadio Nemesio Díez	1954

Additionally, Toluca is home to the following amateur or college teams.

Toluca is home of the

Professional wrestler Tito Santana is billed from Toluca, although he is actually from Mission, Texas.

Notable people

This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (January 2016)

• Alejandro Ariceaga
• José María Bustamante
• Ángel María Garibay K.
• Luis Nishizawa
• Adriana Barraza
• Salvador Mejía Alejandre
• Alberto Chimal
• Ninel Conde
• Mayrín Villanueva
• Carmen Becerra
• Vicente Pereda
• Tito Santana
• Diego Luna

Twin towns – sister cities

Toluca is twinned with:^[33]

In addition, Toluca also cooperates with:^[33]

• Curitiba, Brazil
• Lorient, France
• La Plata, Argentina

See also

• List of highest large cities in the world

Notes

References

Sources

• Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
• México Archived 2013-05-12 at the Wayback Machine Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

External links

• Official Ayuntamiento de Toluca website—(in Spanish)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toluca de Lerdo.

19°17′33″N 99°39′25″W / 19.29250°N 99.65694°W / 19.29250; -99.65694