During the heyday of Tenochtitlan, the area now occupied by the National Palace, seat of the Federal Executive Power, and extending to the current building of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, was home to the New Houses of the tlatoani Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. It was a majestic place with temples, warehouses, courtyards, offices, kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, a freshwater fountain from Chapultepec, and several doors leading to the public square and surrounding streets.

After the conquest, Hernán Cortés took ownership of this property along with others nearby. Upon his death, his heirs sold the property to the Spanish Crown in 1562 to be used as the viceroy's palace and seat of the Audiencia of New Spain.

After Mexico's declaration of independence in 1821, this building was transformed into the National Palace. Thus, from Tenochtitlan to the present day, this space has housed the political and economic power of the country, hence the importance of the remains displayed in the seven archaeological windows that visitors can see.

In the southwest corner of the Second Marian Courtyard, there is a rectangular window measuring 12 m long by 4 m wide, protected by a stainless steel and tempered glass cover, through which three construction stages of a pre-Hispanic staircase oriented from west to east can be seen. In its different stages, the stairway rises from a surface of basalt slabs and andesite blocks. In the last stage, it has five steps made of andesite blocks and partially covered with stucco.

Source: Raúl Barrera Rodríguez, director of the Urban Archaeology Program