Palacio del Marqués del Apartado

Last updated
Palace of the Marqués del Apartado
Palacio Marques del Apartado.JPG
Rep. de Argentina façade of the building
Palacio del Marques del Apartado
General information
Architectural style Neoclassical
Location Mexico City, Mexico
Construction started1795
Completed1805
Design and construction
Architect(s) Manuel Tolsá

The Palace of the Marquis del Apartado is a historic residence located in Mexico City, just to the northeast of the city's Zocalo (main plaza) in the Historic center of Mexico City.

Contents

It was built between 1795 and 1805 over one of the pyramids of the Aztec sacred precinct in Tenochtitlan. The residence was initially built for the main minter of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the third floor was prepared to become the residence of Spanish king Ferdinand VII. However, the king never came to colonial Mexico. [1] Today, the palace houses the main headquarters of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). [2]

History

During the Aztec Empire, the land on which this building is located was part of the teocalli, or sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan. The building sits on the remains of the pyramid dedicated to the goddess Cihuacóatl, the sister of Huitzilopochtli. [1] The base of this pyramid was found in 1910, and a 1.5 ton sculpture of an eagle from this period was discovered in 1985. [3]

After the conquest, the site was part of land granted to the Acevedo family. This grant extended to what are now the streets of Rep. de Guatemala, Rep. de Argentina, Donceles and Rep. de Brasil. Over time, however, this grant was split up and parts sold to other owners. The site of the current palace was sold to Francisco de Fagoaga y Arósqueta, who was in charge of minting and the collection of the king's share of precious metals mined in Mexico. [1] Fagoaga commissioned architect Manuel Tolsá, who built a number of other structures in the city to design, to build this palace between 1795 and 1805. [4] Tolsa designed the building similarly to the Palacio de Minería, which he designed, and included workshops for smelting metals and a chapel. [5]

In the first decade of the 19th century, the topmost floor was remodeled and prepared to become the residence of Fernando VII of Spain. However, the Spanish king never occupied the palace as he abdicated in 1808 and became the prisoner of Napoleon. [1] [5]

After Mexican Independence in the early 19th century, the palace was owned by several wealthy families, who used it as an official residence. The lower part of the house was rented to businesses while the families lived on the upper two floors. [4] [5]

Over time, the building has been remodeled several times. In 1901, the main courtyard and corridors were covered with an iron and glass translucent roof. [1] From 1901 to 1908, it housed a major collection of works from the French Enlightenment as well as an extensive collection of fine arts. The latter eventually became part of the collection of the Academy of San Carlos. [2] After the Mexican Revolution, it became government property, and it was remodeled to become the seat of the Secretaria de Justicia e Instrucción Pública. [4] In 1962, architect Jorge L. Medellín and engineer Manuel M. Haro it was remodeled again, modernizing its electrical system and pipes. [1] Since it became government property in the early 20th century, the building has housed a number of government agencies. Initially it was the home of the Secretaria de Justicia e Institución Pública. After that, it housed the Secretaría de Fomento and Secretaría de Comercio y Trabajo from 1917 to 1934, the Secretaría de la Economía in 1947, the Secretaría de Industria y Comercio from 1959 to 1961 and the Compañía Nacional de Subsistencias Populares until the early 21st century. [1] [2]

In 1989, cracks, fissures and other damage were detected from the building's tilt towards the nearby Metro Station. Initial efforts to correct the damage were undertaken in 1990–1994. Starting in 1995, a hydraulic system to inject and extract water into and from the subsoil was developed, buried forty meters under the building. Much of the building's sinking is due to dropping water tables underneath Mexico City because of the overpumping of groundwater for drinking. The hydraulic system is designed to artificially maintain water pressure under the building to keep it from sinking. [2]

Since 2005, it has been with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, which uses it as its main headquarters and has restored much of its decorative work. [2] [4]

Description

The building covers an area of 3000 m2, with 60 rooms such as halls, dining rooms, kitchens etc. It has two courtyards, with a fountain in the main one. The other courtyard functioned as a stable in the 19th century. [2] This building is similar to Tolsa's Palacio de la Mineria in that both have two facades. The main facade is on Argentina and continues around the corner onto Donceles. The main facade is split into three sections. The middle section, where the main entrance is, stands out slightly from the other two. Except for this entrance, the ground floor is relatively free of decoration as it was of lesser importance than the two upper floors. [1] The exception is the main entrance, which is decorated with a pediment placed over four Doric columns. [4] The other floors are decorated with quarried stone pilasters and columns to frame the windows and balconies. [5]

Under the stairs that lead onto the main patio, pre-Hispanic ruins are visible. [5] Archeological work has been done here since 1985, when restoration work uncovered a large Aztec-era stone sculpture of an eagle in the foundation of the building, where the remains of the pre-Hispanic temple are. The piece was excavated and preserved by archeologist Elsa Hernández Pons of INAH. It is considered unique as it is the only one that has been preserved in situ. The eagle is in a seated position and measures 1.39 meters long, 0.82 meters wide and 0.72 meters tall. It weighs approximately 1.5 tons. The eagle is sculpted in a realistic manner, with details such as feathers of different sizes in relief. It was painted in various colors such as ochre, orange and red. Elements of the sculpture, such as the right side of the face, are missing. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palacio de Bellas Artes</span> Cultural centre in Mexico City

The Palacio de Bellas Artes is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. This hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions. "Bellas Artes" for short, has been called the "art cathedral of Mexico", and is located on the western side of the historic center of Mexico City which is close to the Alameda Central park.

<i>Templo Mayor</i> Main temple of Tenochtitlan

The Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. The temple was called Huēyi Teōcalli in the Nahuatl language. It was dedicated simultaneously to Huitzilopochtli, god of war, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture, each of which had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases. The central spire was devoted to Quetzalcoatl in his form as the wind god, Ehecatl. The Great Temple devoted to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, measuring approximately 100 by 80 m at its base, dominated the Sacred Precinct. Construction of the first temple began sometime after 1325, and it was rebuilt six times. The temple was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521, and the Mexico City cathedral was built in its place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Palace (Mexico)</span> Palace in Mexico City

The National Palace is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. Since 2018 it has also served as the official residence for the President of Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constitución. This site has been a palace for the ruling class of Mexico since the Aztec Empire, and much of the current palace's building materials are from the original one that belonged to the 16th-century leader Moctezuma II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Tolsá</span> Spanish architect and first director of the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City

Manuel Vicente Tolsá Sarrión was a prolific Neoclassical architect and sculptor in Spain and Mexico. He served as the first director of the Academy of San Carlos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain</span> Equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain in Mexico City, Mexico

The equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain is a bronze sculpture cast by Manuel Tolsá built between 1796 and 1803 in Mexico City, Mexico in honour of King Charles IV of Spain, then the last ruler of the New Spain. This statue has been displayed in different points of the city and is considered one of the finest achievements of Mr. Tolsá. It now resides in Plaza Manuel Tolsá.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic center of Mexico City</span> Place in Mexico City, Mexico

The historic center of Mexico City, also known as the Centro or Centro Histórico, is the central neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico, focused on the Zócalo and extending in all directions for a number of blocks, with its farthest extent being west to the Alameda Central. The Zocalo is the largest plaza in Latin America. It can hold up to nearly 100,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palacio de los Capitanes Generales</span>

The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales is the former official residence of the Spanish Empire's governors of Havana, Cuba, and in the Post-Colonial Period was for many time the City Hall. Located on the eastern side of the Plaza de Armas in Old Havana it is home to the Museum of the City of Havana. It houses exhibitions of art and historical artefacts and many of the rooms are preserved with their original Colonial decoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público</span>

The Museo de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público is an art museum located in the historic center of Mexico City. It is housed in what was the Palacio del Arzobispado, built in 1530 under Friar Juan de Zumárraga on the base of the destroyed pyramid dedicated to the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca. It remained the archbishphoric until 1867 when the Finance Ministry Accountancy Department was established there. The modern museum houses an exhibit dedicated to this god as well as a large art collection.

The Mexico City administrative buildings are two buildings on the south side of the Zócalo in Mexico City divided by the avenue Avenida 20 de Noviembre. They house offices of the governing authority of Mexico City. The building to the west of 20 de Noviembre is the older one and has been the site of city administration since the Conquest. The one to the east is newer, built in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace of Iturbide</span> Former Imperial Palace of Mexico

The Palace of Iturbide is a large palatial residence located in the historic center of Mexico City at Madero Street #17. It was built by the Count of San Mateo Valparaíso as a wedding gift for his daughter. It gained the name “Palace of Iturbide” because Agustín de Iturbide lived there and accepted the crown of the First Mexican Empire at the palace after independence from Spain. Today, the restored building houses the Fomento Cultural Banamex; it has been renamed the Palacio de Cultura Banamex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Nacional de las Culturas</span>

The Museo Nacional de las Culturas is a national museum in Mexico City dedicated to education about the world's cultures, both past and present. It is housed in a colonial-era building that used to be the mint for making coins. Prior to this, the site was the home of the location of the Moctezuma's Black House. The mint was moved to Apartado Street in 1850, and the building was used for various purposes until it was converted to its current use in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secretariat of Public Education Main Headquarters</span>

The Secretariat of Public Education Main Headquarters building is on the northeast corner of San Ildefonso and República de Argentina streets in the historic center of Mexico City, and used to be part of the largest and most sumptuous convents in New Spain. It was secularized in the 19th century and then taken over by the then-new Secretariat of Public Education after the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. The new agency did extensive remodeling work on the building, including covering nearly all the walls of the two inner courtyards with murals. These murals include Diego Rivera’s first large-scale mural project, which he completed in 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Mexico City</span> Art museum in Mexico

The Museum of Mexico City is located at Pino Suarez 30, a few blocks south of the Zocalo, on what was the Iztapalapa Causeway, near where Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma II met for the first time. This building used to be the palace of the Counts of Santiago de Calimaya, who were the descendants of one of the conquistadors with Cortés. The house was extensively remodeled during the colony to much the appearance that it has today and remained in the family until 1960, when the Mexico City government acquired it from them in order to found the Museum that is found there today. The museum contains a number of elements of the old palace as well as 26 rooms dedicated to the history and development of Mexico City from Aztec times to the present. It also contains a library and the studios of painter Joaquín Clausell, who lived here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teatro de la Ciudad</span> Theatre in Mexico City

The Teatro de la Ciudad was built as the Teatro Esperanza Iris in 1918 and is now one of Mexico City’s public venues for cultural events. The theater is located in the historic center of Mexico City on Donceles Street 36.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace of Cortés, Cuernavaca</span>

The Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, Mexico, built between 1523 and 1528, is the oldest conserved virreinal-era civil structure in the continental Americas. The architecture is a blend between Gothic and Mudéjar, typical of the early 16th century colonial architecture. The building began as a fortified residence for conqueror Hernán Cortés and his aristocratic second wife, Doña Juana Zúñiga. It was built in 1526, over a Tlahuica Aztec tribute collection center, which was destroyed by the Spanish during the Conquest. Cortés replaced it with a personal residence to assert authority over the newly conquered peoples. As Cortés's residence, it reached its height in the 1530s, but the family eventually abandoned it due to on-going legal troubles. In the 18th century, virreinal authorities had the structure renovated and used it as a barracks and jail. During the Mexican War of Independence, it held prisoners such as José María Morelos y Pavón. After the war, it became the seat of government for the state of Morelos until the late 20th century, when the state government moved out and the structure was renovated and converted into the Museo Regional Cuauhnahuac, or regional museum, with exhibited on the history of Morelos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palacio de Minería</span> Palace in Mexico

The Palace of Mining, also Palace of Mines, is a building in Mexico City, Mexico, considered to be a fine example of Neoclassical architecture in the Americas. It was designed and built between 1797 and 1813 by Valencian Spanish sculptor and architect Manuel Tolsá. It was built to house the Royal School of Mines and Mining of the Royal Court at the request of its director, Fausto Elhuyar, a scientifically-trained mineralogist.

The Palacio del Marqués de Casa Riera was the name for two successive buildings located in the same place, in the Spanish city of Madrid, in the number 64 of the Calle de Alcalá, it was in the widest part of the street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quetzalpapálotl</span> Ruins located in Teotihuacán, present-day Mexico

The Quetzalpapálotl complex are ruins located in Teotihuacán. The complex is best known for the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl and the stone reliefs in its courtyard. Adjacent structures house surviving murals. The main entrance faces the Avenue of the Dead and is southwest of the Pyramid of the Moon.

The Casa Denegrida de Moctezuma was part of the royal palace and chambers of Tenochtitlan's ninth tlatoani Moctezuma II. The Black House, or more accurately the black room, was a windowless room fully painted in black where Moctezuma would meditate. The floor was made of large irregular black basalt slabs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palacio del Segundo Cabo</span>

The Palacio del Segundo Cabo was built in the last decades of the 18th century, between 1770 and 1791, as part of the urban improvement project around the Plaza de Armas.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Obra arquitectónica Casa del marques del Apartado" [Architectural Works–the House of the Marqués del Apartado] (in Spanish). Mexico City: UNAM. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "La casa del Marqués del Apartado: palacio flotante en el corazón del centro histórico" [The house of the Marqués del Apartado: floating palace in the heart of the Historic Center] (in Spanish). Mexico City: CONACULTA. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Santaella López, Yolanda. "Conservación del águila Cuauhxicalli de la casa del Marqués del Apartado, de la ciudad de México" [Conservation of the Cuauhxicalli Eagle of the house of the Marqués del Apartado, of Mexico City] (in Spanish). Mexico: INAH. Retrieved January 20, 2010.[ dead link ]
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Palacio del Marques del Apartado–Mexico". ARQHYS (in Spanish). 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Bueno de Ariztegui (ed), Patricia (1984). Guia Turistica de Mexico–Distrito Federal Centro 3. Mexico City: Promexa. p. 78. ISBN   968-34-0319-0.{{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)

19°26′7.74″N99°7′54.96″W / 19.4354833°N 99.1319333°W / 19.4354833; -99.1319333