Imperial Residence and East Terraces, Alcázar Site Museum, Chapultepec Castle

Emperor Maximilian I entrusted Carl Gangolf Kayser (“Architect of the Imperial House”; who was in charge of the modifications to the Imperial Palace in front of the Main Square of the capital), the study and project for the reforms that would best adapt the fortress of Chapultepec to transform it into a worthy inheritance that was known as the “Schönbrunn of Mexico.”

The botanist Wilhelm Knechtel was responsible for creating the garden located on the roof of the building. In addition, the Emperor brought from Europe several pieces of furniture, art and many other fine items that are still exhibited to this day. Because the palace was retired from Mexico City, Emperor Maximilian ordered the construction of a boulevard that directly connected the imperial residence with the city center, and decided to name it Empress Stroll (in honor of his wife), currently called Paseo de la Reforma.

The Alcázar acquired its current appearance when the Austrian archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg and his wife, the Belgian princess Carlota Amalia, resided in the Castle between 1864 and 1867, during the Second French Intervention. The building was converted into a palace by Mexican architect Ramón Rodríguez Arangoity, former student of the Military College, and the gardens were redesigned by the Austrian botanist Wilhelm Knechtel, although, according to Carlota, “it was more due to Max’s hand.”

While the works progressed, furniture, pianos, porcelain and silver china, oils with portraits of the imperial couple, tapestries, table clocks, tablecloths and glassware arrived to make the Alcázar a real palace.

Maximiliano and Carlota chose as rooms the rooms of the ground floor that looked towards the East, towards the City of Mexico, the lake of Texcoco and the volcanoes Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl; which is why they ordered to build a panoramic terrace in front of their rooms.

Diaz intended the building to be a showcase for Mexico’s artistic and technological progress, in part because it was frequented by foreign characters. He installed, for example, a large stained glass window on the east terrace of the upper floor of the Alcázar, which has been preserved to date; elevators, including one that climbed people from the base of the hill; and a bowling alley, a fashion game among the well-to-do, in whose room the first cinema exhibition was held in Mexico in 1896.

Currently it is still used as a museum. Its 19 rooms contain a vast range of pieces that exceed ninety thousand where the history of Mexico is exhibited and illustrated since the Spanish conquest, with various objects such as medieval armor, swords and cannons among many others. His collection of objects has been organized in 6 curatorships:

Painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving and printing.
Numismatics.
Historical documents and flags.
Technology and weapons.
Clothing and accessories.
Furniture and household goods.

It also provides services such as library, video library, photo library and guided tours.

Interior Staircase
The comfort of home: The opening of this staircase during the period of government of President Manuel González (1880 to 1884), contributed notably to turning the Alcazar into a comfortable residence with accessible spaces. The rooms of the president and his wife, located on the upper floor, communicated through this staircase with the reception and dining rooms located below. The ladder of the lions was reserved for the reception of the guests, while the steps of the slender southeast tower and behind the dining room were used for the circulation of the servitude. The circulation between the two floors and the basement was complemented by an electric elevator, for the exclusive use of the president and his family.

Salon of the Gobelins
Nostalgia for Europe: By evoking family traditions, the noble houses of Europe demonstrated their ancestry and enriched their rooms with works of art and pieces of fine design. In this room, the portraits of Maximiliano and Carlota, made by Albert Graefle in 1865, are accompanied by those of the French monarchs Napoleon III and his wife Eugenia de Montijo, who were his tutors.

Napoleon III himself presented Maximiliano with the Louis XV-style hazelnut wood room, in which Aubusson’s gobelin tapestries reproduce scenes from the fables written by Jean de La Fontaine. The pianos, one French and one English, belonged to Maximiliano and his wife.

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Tea Room
Carlota in Chapultepec: According to the court ceremony, Carlota enjoyed the company of several ladies chosen among the most notable families in Mexico. During his stay in Chapultepec, he founded charitable houses for the needy classes, organized receptions and lived with his ladies, but did not cease to participate actively in the political affairs of the country. When Maximiliano traveled inside, he left the reins of the government in the hands of Carlota, who presided over the councils, gave an audience to the ministers, received the ambassadors in the official halls and issued orders and instructions.

When her government’s problems worsened, she decided to go to European courts and Pope Pius IX for help, which she did not get.

Carlota’s bedroom
The recovery of the palace: Among the different residences of Maximiliano were the Imperial Palace (now National), that of Chapultepec and the Fifth Borda, in Cuernavaca. Each one of them was decorated with European tapestries, carpets, dishes and ornaments whose acquisition meant excessive expenses for personal and public coffers. When Maximiliano left Mexico City, anticipating the end of his government, at the end of 1866, he ordered the dismantling of its palaces. A long history of losses and reunions began then. The French Boulle-style bedroom shown here was acquired by President Manuel González, who believed it belonging to Carlota. Maximiliano’s brass bed and other objects were part of the furniture abandoned in the Castle after his death.

Toilet Cabinet
Health and cleaning habits: The intentions of the Maximilian government to “place Mexico in the advance of civilization” led him to renew public services, among which were the drinking water pipelines — which would replace the popular “water”, who carried the water from the public fountains to every corner of the city – the drain of the Valley of Mexico, the cobblestone of streets and its lighting with gas. At that time, baths or troughs were used to bathe with the help of water heaters and baskets.

In the Alcazar, where the water came from the springs of the hill on the back of a mule or in carts, Maximiliano and Carlota each had a cabinet for personal hygiene and hygiene.

Living room
María Carlota Amelia, princess of Belgium, was seventeen years old when she married Maximiliano. Coming from a family of kings (her cousin Victoria was sovereign of England), she was carefully educated in the principles of the Catholic religion, science, art and politics.

Before traveling to Mexico, he carefully studied the history and descriptions of the country that had been published in Europe, and his endless curiosity about local customs irritated his Mexican company ladies, educated for home life. Far from domestic concerns, in his moments of retirement Carlota thought about how to govern the territory and educate its inhabitants.

National History Museum, Chapultepec Castle
The National Museum of History is the Chapultepec Castle that holds the memory of the history of Mexico, from the conquest of Tenochtitlan to the Mexican Revolution. Its rooms show a diversity of objects representative of four centuries of the history of Mexico. The museum is located in the Castillo de Chapultepec, whose construction began in 1785 during the government of the Viceroy of New Spain, Bernardo de Gálvez. Although it was created for rest home, over time it was adapted to different uses: it was a military school, imperial residence with Maximilian and Carlota (1864-1867), presidential residence and, since 1939, headquarters of the National Museum of History.

The museum has 12 permanent exhibition halls that present the historical trajectory of the country, from the Conquest to the Mexican Revolution; and 22 rooms in the area known as Alcázar, where the rooms of Maximiliano and Carlota and President Porfirio Díaz are recreated, as well as a room that recalls the assault on Chapultepec Castle.

Chapultepec Castle is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in the Chapultepec park. The name Chapultepec stems from the Nahuatl word chapoltepēc which means “at the grasshopper’s hill”. The castle has such unparalleled views and terraces that historian James F. Elton wrote that they can’t “be surpassed in beauty in any part of the world”. It is located in the middle of Chapultepec Park in Mexico City at a height of 2,325 meters (7,628 ft) above sea level. The site of the hill was a sacred place for Aztecs, and the buildings atop it have served several purposes during its history, including that of Military Academy, Imperial residence, Presidential home, observatory, and presently, the National Museum of History.

It was built at the time of the Viceroyalty as summer house for the viceroy. It was given various uses, from the gunpowder warehouse to the military academy in 1841. It became the official residence of Emperor Maximilian I and his consort Empress Carlota during the Second Mexican Empire (1864-1867). In 1882, President Manuel González declared it the official residence of the President. With few exceptions, all succeeding presidents lived there until 1939, when President Lázaro Cárdenas turned it into a museum.

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