if you want to see mexico's history all in one place, you've got to come here to the palacio nationale. this is where mexican painter diego rivera made several murals depicting the history of mexico, from its birthplace to the 20th century. after the mexican revolution of 1920, most of the population was literate, and the new government needed something to promote the ideals of the revolution. so they commissioned large-scale murals around the country to help tell mexico's story to the people. diego rivera spent 10 years painting 3 giant murals here, and the main one is by the staircase and depicts everything from the aztecs to the conquistadors, mexican independence to the revolution. but what was important to diego was to celebrate pre-hispanic history, as for centuries, the idea of a culture before spain was erased from the mexican subconscious. in 1950, he was commissioned on a project right here in chapultepec park. this giant mosaic stone fountain is dedicated to the aztec god tlaloc, god of rain and fertility. it used to be the ceremonial entrance of the lerma river, which suppl