Archivo General station

Neighbouring stations

• 4N Line 4N AeropuertoMorelos ← Archivo General → San Lázaro

The story behind the icon

The station icon shows the façade of the General Archive of the Nation. The station takes its name from its location in the Penitenciaría Ampliación neighbourhood, alongside the General Archive of the Nation. Standing in the north-west of Mexico City, the building was originally built as a penitentiary. The Black Palace of Lecumberri was inaugurated on 29 September 1900 by President Porfirio Díaz. It was built as a consequence of the reform of the Penal Code of 1871. The building has a rotunda, a polygonal central body intended for the guards, and the cells lay along radiating corridors that allowed them to be observed and controlled. The Black Palace ceased to be a prison on 27 August 1976, when it was closed by its last director, Sergio García Ramírez. In 1982 it became the seat of the General Archive of the Nation (AGN), the institution charged with recovering and preserving our country's historical documents and making them available for consultation. Among the prisoners held in the Palace of Lecumberri were Pancho Villa, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Revueltas.