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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



sign is modern and highly decorative, 

 built of the local green tuff and sand- 

 stone. The superb portico, with its eight 

 bronze figures, is borne on twelve Ionic 

 pillars ; the imposing steps, with stately 

 flambeau, the wrought-iron grille work, 

 the spacious foyer, and the richly deco- 

 rated interior by Herrara are truly mag- 

 nificent. 



The Alhondiga de Granaditas (prison) 

 is as constantly full as the theater is 

 empty. It is one of the most historic 

 buildings of the Republic, and will always 

 be remembered not as a storehouse of 

 grain, not as a prison, which it now is, 

 but as the place where the first blow was 

 struck for the liberation of Mexico from 

 Spanish rule. Quadrangular in shape, 

 with a central patio, a row of small Moor- 

 ish windows near the top, the lower floor 

 Tuscan, the upper Doric, the building has 

 no architectural beauty. 



At each corner is a large hook, from 

 which, in the days of the struggle for in- 

 dependence, were hung four iron cages 

 containing the heads of the great liber- 

 ators — the patriot priest, Hidalgo, his 

 military chief, Allende, and his comrades, 

 Aldama and Jimenez. Here they hung 

 for years until removed by a worshiping 

 nation to the Altar of Kings in the cathe- 

 dral of the City of Mexico. After the 

 Grito de Dolores and the first ringing of 

 the bell of Independence, Hidalgo and 

 his followers moved on to Guanajuato, 

 stormed the improvised fortress of Al- 

 hondiga, and killed all the Spanish troops 

 that had taken refuge there. This was 

 the beginning of the eleven years' war of 

 Independence. 



GRINNING MUMMIES IX GHASTLY ARRAY 



On the summit of the Cerro del Tro- 

 zada, to the west of the city, is the Pan- 

 theon. The four high walls surrounding 

 the cemetery consist of vaults, tier upon 

 tier, in which the remains of the dead are 

 placed pro tan. or in perpetuity, accord- 

 ing to the ability of the surviving rela- 

 tives to pay the rent. It is not an uncom- 

 mon but a gruesome sight to see a burro 

 plodding wearily up the hill with a cas- 

 ket, hired for the occasion, strapped on 

 it^ back. 



At the gates disposal of the remains is 

 summarily made if the deceased was pov- 

 erty stricken, or maybe a niche in the 

 walls is rented for a period of five years, 

 after which time the bones will be placed 

 in a common ossuary. For a small fee 

 the attendant will admit the visitor to the 

 "chamber of horrors." A winding stair 

 leads to the crypt, where ghastly, mum- 

 mified remains are placed in a ghostly 

 row, grinning resentment at the curious. 



El Palacio Legislativo is another civic 

 monument, designed by Louis Long and 

 decorated by Nicolas Gonzales and Clau- 

 dio Molina. It is an edifice of three sto- 

 ries, the first floor being the Hall of Con- 

 gress, containing many oil paintings of 

 national heroes. 



The water supply of Guanajuato has 

 been carefully planned. It is both ample 

 in quantity and of good quality. The 

 run-off from the mountainous watershed 

 is impounded by a series of dams of ex- 

 cellent structural and artistic workman- 

 ship. The Esperanza dam, built of na- 

 tive stone, is 95 feet high and wholly in 

 keeping with the extravagance of a mu- 

 nificent municipality. 



GUAXAJUATO'S MANY CHURCHES 



If the religious fervor of the people is 

 measured by the number of churches, 

 then surely we are in a pious community. 

 In the city proper are many historic piles, 

 with painfully modern interiors. Perhaps 

 the finest is the Compania, a Jesuit foun- 

 dation, built in 1 747- 1 765. Its single 

 tower contains some bells of exception- 

 ally fine tones, the largest of which was 

 blessed, in 1852, by Bishop Timon, of 

 Buffalo, then resident in Mexico. The 

 Jesuits founded their first church in 

 Guanajuato in 1557, which later became 

 the Collegio de la Purisima Coneepcion. 

 The venerated image of Nuestra Senora 

 de Guanajuato, the gift of Philip II of 

 Spain, was enshrined here until moved to 

 the parish church of San Francisco, dedi- 

 cated to San Juan de Dios and completed 

 in 1696. After the suppression of the 

 Juaninos by the Franciscans, in 1828, the 

 original beauty of this sacred edifice was 

 lost in its renovation, so that today it is a 

 distressing patchwork. 



