Alhóndiga de Granaditas
The Alhóndiga de Granaditas ( German : "Granaditas- Granary ") is a granary in the Mexican city of Guanajuato that was completed in 1809 . It was the scene of the first battle between loyal Spaniards and Mexican freedom fighters ( Insurgentes ) in Mexico's War of Independence . The building now houses a museum and, as part of Guanajuato's historic old town, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 .
architecture
The rectangular building of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas , built in the classical style, consists essentially of volcanic lava rock ( tezontle ) and bricks , which was subsequently plastered ; Exactly hewn natural stones were used only for the window and door frames . As in the entire city, the site on the site is very irregular, so that the building is two-story on one narrow side and three-story on the other. The outer walls of the building show no other design elements apart from two or three rows of small windows and cornices resting on triglyphic decorated consoles below the flat roof, which together with the reddish-gray color of the stones give the building an almost fortress-like appearance. To the west there is a flight of stairs to a square. The Alhóndiga has only two entrances to the east and north, each flanked by columns. It has a two-story inner courtyard with walled columns and a balustrade on the upper level.
History of origin
At the beginning of the 19th century, the silver city of Guanajuato was the third largest city in the western hemisphere with 65,000 inhabitants. Population growth in Mexico drove up the demand for food, while at the same time food production in Bajío , the central Mexican agricultural region near Guanajuato, shifted from corn and cattle to goods such as wheat, fruit and vegetables, which are in greater demand in the cities. The resulting rise in the price of staple foods hit the rural population in particular. However, the state gave priority to adequate supplies for the urban population, which is more important for social stability. Some food was brought into the cities from rural areas under military protection.
Sufficient storage capacities were necessary. That is why the head of the Intendencia (administrative unit) Guanajuato, Juan Antonio de Riaño y Barcena, and the city council commissioned the local builder José Alejandro Durán y Villaseñor to build the new granary. Durán presented his plans in March 1796, which were approved by the Viceroy of New Spain in July of the following year after slight changes by the architect José del Mazoy Avilés . On January 5, 1798, the construction work began, which lasted ten years, so that in November 1809 the Alhóndiga de Granaditas could be inaugurated. The name is said to come from the medicinal plant Granaditas that grew at the place of construction.
Against the background described above, the large granary was seen by the rural population as a symbol for the exploitation by the authorities and the city.
Storming of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas during the War of Independence
On September 16, 1810, an uprising against Spanish colonial rule began in Dolores, about 35 km to the northeast . This marked the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence. The initially about 800 men under the leadership of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla , the priest of Dolores, Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama soon swelled to 20,000 to 25,000 insurgents and reached the outskirts of Guanajuato on September 27th.
Intendente Riaño did not trust the loyalty of his troops and the townspeople and therefore avoided an open military confrontation with the outnumbered rebels. Instead, he had holed up in the Alhóndiga de Granaditas on the night of September 24th , together with troops of predominantly European descent, valuables and documents. He planned to stay in the fortress-like building, which had its own well and enough food for 500 people and a period of three to four months, and wait for relief from Guadalajara or San Luis Potosí . He initially left the city itself to the arbitrariness of the rebels, which drove many residents to their side.
Hidalgo asked his former friend Riaño to surrender in two letters, which he refused. The rebels then entered the city on September 28 via the Cañada de Marfil , a narrow ravine . There was a skirmish with loyal troops under the leadership of Riaño's son Gilberto, who withdrew with his men.
Because of the narrow ravine, it was difficult for Hidalgo and his officers to coordinate the advancing fighters. The few trained soldiers who had joined them from the provincial militia and who presumably led the attack were practically driven towards the enemy by thousands of irregular insurgents who pushed in and in some cases even trampled to death.
Nevertheless, the attackers were able to quickly push the troops loyal to the king back into the Alhóndiga . The people of Guanajuato have now also joined the storm, after initially adopting a wait-and-see attitude. In addition, Riaño found death in the early stages of the battle, which led to disputes among the defenders about his successor and how to proceed. Some wanted to surrender, while others continued to defend themselves with gunfire and thrown explosive devices.
The attackers finally succeeded in setting fire to the wooden doors of the granary and thus destroying them. According to legend, Juan José de los Reyes Martínez Amaro , known as El Pípila , single-handedly lit the gates. The powerful miner is said to have tied a flat stone on his back as protection against the defenders' bullets, crawled to the gates and then set them on fire. Today the Pípila , a large statue on a hill above Guanajuato, commemorates Martínez.
The insurgents stormed the Alhóndiga de Granaditas and killed almost all defenders indiscriminately, even after they had surrendered. The fight ended around 5 p.m. A total of at least 300 defenders and 1000 to 3000 attackers are said to have died in the battle, exact numbers are not known. The Alhóndiga with its valuables and the city of Guanajuato were looted by the mob for two days . The financial gain for the independence movement was therefore rather small.
The Alhóndiga to this day
As early as the beginning of the following year, the Spaniards were able to suppress the uprising and execute the leaders. As a deterrent, the severed heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and co-conspirator José Mariano Jiménez were hung in metal cages on each corner of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas . They stayed there for ten years and were only removed and buried by Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera after Mexico's final independence in 1821 .
During the French occupation, the occupiers used the building. Emperor Maximilian I visited Guanajuato and the Alhóndiga in September 1864. He ordered the prisoners to be moved from the basement of the government building to the granary in order to improve their prison conditions - the Alhóndiga de Granaditas thus became a prison.
In 1949, the building was finally renovated and converted into a Museum of Local History (Museo Regional de Guanajuato) , which shows pre-Columbian excavation objects, exhibits from the colonial era and the War of Independence, and paintings. You can also see muralism by José Chávez Morado . It also serves as a venue during the Cervantino , Guanajuato's annual international cultural festival.
In 1988, which was Alhóndiga de Granaditas together with the complete historic city of Guanajuato in the list of UNESCO - World Heritage added.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Jaime E. Rodríguez O .: "We Are Now the True Spaniards" . Sovereignty, Revolution, Independence, and the Emergence of the Federal Republic of Mexico, 1808-1824. Stanford University Press, Stanford 2012, ISBN 978-0-8047-8463-4 , Chapter 4, Two Revolutions, pp. 116–131 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ A b c d David F. Marley: The Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America (= Historic Cities of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia . Volume 1 ). ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2005, ISBN 978-1-57607-027-7 , Guanajuato, pp. 242 f . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ Konrad Ratz, Amparo Gómez Tepexicuapan: An emperor on the way . Maximilian's travels from Mexico 1864–1867 according to press reports and private letters. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-205-77578-2 , p. 70 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Kevin Delgado: Explorer's Guide San Miguel de Allende & Guanajuato . A great destination. The Countryman Press, Woodstock 2011, ISBN 978-1-58157-842-3 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines. In: World Heritage List. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed May 31, 2012 .
Web links
Coordinates: 21 ° 1 ′ 8 ″ N , 101 ° 15 ′ 29 ″ W.