Mexico City claimed another Guinness World Record upon inaugurating its Day of the Dead altar featuring a 33.4-meter-tall Catrina figure, the tallest papier-mâché sculpture in the world.
Hundreds gathered in the Zócalo on Thursday night to witness Mayor Clara Brugada inaugurate the “mega-ofrenda,” a giant altar featuring marigolds, axolotls, sugar skulls and monumental figures, transforming the heart of the capital into a stage to remember those no longer with us.
¡El Zócalo de la Ciudad de México se ilumina y pinta del color de cempasúchil para alojar a la Catrina más alta del mundo en la Ofrenda Monumental!🧡
Celebramos con orgullo nuestras tradiciones a través de esta majestuosa pieza.🕯️✨
Visítala hasta el 2 de noviembre 2026 https://t.co/IoaugBiwAe
— Secretaría de Turismo de la Ciudad de México (@turismocdmx) October 30, 2026
Dominating the square is the nearly 110-foot-tall Catrina that looms above the square in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The elegant, well-dressed female skeleton is one of the most recognizable symbols of Mexican identity and Day of the Dead.
Roughly the height of an 11-story building, the Mexico City Catrina surpassed the record set in 2023 when a 28.15-meter-high (92.4 feet) Catrina was erected on Puerto Vallarta’s waterfront promenade.
The Mexico City Catrina was created by the Xibalbá art workshop and its director, Carlos Camilo Báez.
“The figure represents a critique of vanity, classism and false appearances, reminding us that in the face of death there are no differences based on titles, surnames or fortune,” Brugada said.
Brugada also paid tribute to the late Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, pointing out that the ofrenda includes a tribute to the three-time presidential candidate who died on Wednesday.
For those eager to gawk at the Catrina in the Zócalo, keep in mind that the entire Day of the Dead ofrenda will only be on display through Nov. 3.
Also noteworthy is the lighting installed on the government buildings in the square and along 20 de Noviembre avenue (which empties into the Zócalo from the south). The spectacle references the work of Mexican engraver José Guadalupe Posada, the creator of the famous Calavera Garbancera, which inspired La Catrina.
Day of the Dead’s La Catrina has an ancestor in Mexico’s ancient mythologies
The skeletal figure became famous and acquired her iconic full-length, elegant look in the late 1940s after muralist Diego Rivera incorporated it into his mural “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central.”
The giant Catrina marks the fifth Guinness World Record established by Mexico City this year.
Other records include: the world’s largest holographic mural (a 750-square-meter optical artwork by Federico Kampf currently at the Auditorio Metro station); the largest continuous line of sandwiches (set in July during the Torta Fair in the Venustiano Carranza borough); the largest human wave outside a stadium (set in June along Paseo de la Reforma avenue); and the world’s largest soccer lesson (held in the Zócalo in March).
With reports from Milenio, TV Azteca, La Jornada, LopezDoriga.com and Popular Science
