Xalapa's centrally located main square feels like a terrace, with its south side overlooking the valley below and the snowcapped cone of Pico de Orizaba beckoning in the distance. Greener and better kept than most other plazas in Mexico, you’ll find monkey puzzle trees and manicured hedges among the shoe-shiners, balloon sellers and wandering minstrels.
On the plaza’s north side is the 1855 neoclassical Palacio Municipal and on the east side is the Palacio de Gobierno , the seat of Veracruz' state government. The Palacio de Gobierno has a fine mural by Mario Orozco Rivera depicting the history of justice above the stairway near the eastern entrance on Enríquez.
