The Columbus Monument — Monumento a Colon — stands at the Glorieta de Colon on Paseo de la Reforma, one of several traffic circles along the avenue anchored by historical statues. It’s not the most famous monument on Reforma (that distinction belongs to the Angel of Independence), but it’s a handsome piece of 19th-century civic sculpture with an interesting position in Mexico City’s ongoing conversation about which historical figures deserve public commemoration.
The Monument
The statue was inaugurated in 1877, during the Porfirio Diaz era, when Mexico City was enthusiastically installing European-style monuments along its grand new boulevard. The sculptor was French artist Charles Cordier, and the monument shows Columbus standing atop a tall column, flanked by seated figures representing four friars who supported his voyages: Bartolome de las Casas, Pedro de Gante, Juan Perez de Marchena, and Diego de Deza.
As public sculpture goes, it’s well-executed. The column is flanked by the four religious figures at its base, each in their own niche, giving the whole ensemble a weight and complexity that single-figure monuments lack. The craftsmanship is high-quality French academic sculpture of the period — technically accomplished, dignified, and exactly the kind of thing that a 19th-century government trying to project cosmopolitan sophistication would commission.
The Controversy
Columbus monuments have become lightning rods across the Americas, and Mexico City’s is no exception. In October 2020, ahead of the Day of the Americas (October 12, which coincides with Columbus Day in the US), the city government removed the statue from its column, ostensibly for restoration. The timing was not coincidental — indigenous rights groups had been calling for its removal, and several Columbus statues in other countries had been vandalized or toppled during the social justice movements of that year.
In September 2021, the city replaced the Columbus statue with a sculpture of an Aztec woman, titled “Tlali,” intended to honor indigenous women. The replacement itself generated controversy — some praised the recognition of pre-Columbian heritage, others criticized the quality and design of the new sculpture, and still others felt the original should have been left in place.
The Columbus statue was relocated to the Parque Americas in Polanco, where it stands today. The Glorieta itself is still commonly referred to as the Glorieta de Colon by locals who’ve been calling it that for over a century and aren’t inclined to stop.
Visiting the Glorieta
The traffic circle is located on Paseo de la Reforma between the Angel of Independence and the Cuauhtemoc Monument, roughly at the intersection with Morelos. Like all the glorietas on Reforma, it’s in the middle of a busy traffic circle, so getting close requires using crosswalks and waiting for lights.
Whether you’ll see the original Columbus or the replacement sculpture depends on what’s happened since this writing — the situation has been fluid. Regardless, the glorieta itself is a pleasant stop along any walk down Reforma. The surrounding area is close to the Angel and the Zona Rosa, making it easy to incorporate into a broader walk along the avenue.
Context on Reforma
Paseo de la Reforma was designed in the 1860s under Emperor Maximilian as Mexico City’s answer to the Champs-Elysees. The glorietas along its length were intended to celebrate figures important to Mexican and Western history, creating an open-air gallery of monumental sculpture. Walking Reforma from Chapultepec to the Historic Center takes you past a dozen or more monuments, each one a snapshot of who Mexico wanted to honor at the time it was installed.
The Columbus glorieta is one piece of that larger story, and its recent transformation makes it one of the most symbolically charged. Whether the monument is there or not, the location matters. It marks a spot where Mexican identity, colonial history, and indigenous heritage continue to negotiate their relationship in public space. That’s worth a moment of your time, even if you’re just walking past on your way to something else.