[1][2] Its construction occurred subsequent to the Monument to Christopher Columbus, located at the next major roundabout (glorieta) of the same wide avenue, and in contrast to it, as an attempt to highlight the mestizo (mixed origin) identity of contemporary Mexico.

[3] Alongside the Mexico Pavilion at the 1889 Paris exhibition by Antonio Anza, the monument was part of a failed search for a purely Mexican artistic style.

[1] The winners was engineer Francisco M. Jiménez who were inspired by the details of before colonial European Mexican architecture, such as the ancient buildings of Uxmal, Mitla and the archaeological site of Palenque, among others.

Jimenez died two days after the decision was announced[1] therefore the construction of the monument was overseen by Ramón Agea, architect and engineer of the National Palace of Mexico.

The monument is topped by a statue of Cuauhtémoc, wearing ceremonial clothing with a penacho (plumed headdress) and holding a spear, made by the Mexican sculptor Miguel Noreña.

[6] Designed by Francisco Jiménez, the base of the monument incorporates many Mesoamerican stylistic elements including an octagonal shape, consisting of three truncated pyramidal bodies.

On the four sides of monument are names of other Aztec commanders during the Spanish conquest: Cuitláhuac (East), Cacama (North), Tetlepanquetzaltzin (originally Tetlepanquetzal, West) and Coanacoch (South).