MUSEO REGIONAL DE GUANAJUATO

This beautiful neoclassical building, constructed between 1798 and 1809, perfectly symbolizes the mining prosperity of Guanajuato and New Spain just before the War of Independence. Originally built to house a granary and grain market, it symbolized to the population the central power and might of the Bourbon reign. Eight months after its inauguration, it became the site of a famous independence victory. On September 28, 1810, the royalists entrenched in the building succumbed to the assaults and ingenuity of priest Miguel Hidalgo and miner Juan José Martínez, known locally as "the Pipila". Even the Governor of the time was killed. Between 1811 and 1821, the heads of the insurgents shot in Chihuahua - Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama and Mariano Jímenez - were displayed in the four corners of this building. A mausoleum is dedicated to them on the first floor. Once a school, a tobacco factory, a popular residence and then a prison, the Alhóndiga now houses the superb Guanajuato Regional Museum, covering a vast period from pre-Hispanic origins to the ^20th century. Of particular note from the pre-Columbian period is the large collection of stone seals from the four corners of Mesoamerica, as well as an exhaustive presentation of the Chupicuaro culture. Finally, there are the frescoes painted by local artist José Chávez Morado between 1955 and 1966.