ChapultepecDe los Dioses a Emperadores

Before you go in, stop at the lions. The Puerta de los Leones is the main entrance to the Chapultepec forest and the threshold from the noise of the avenue to the trees. The lions and their pedestals announce it: this is a place where the scale of things changes.

You do not have to answer it out loud, nor move on straight away. Just consider it: what stories do you think a single place might hold for centuries? The rest of the walk is one way of looking for an answer.

The climb up the hill works as a narrative transition. The vegetation thickens, the slope marks the change in level and the views start to open up. That change of perspective is part of the story: the Castle is not understood all at once.

The origin is viceregal. On 16 August 1785, Bernardo de Gálvez ordered the building of a resting house in Chapultepec, on the site of an old hermitage dedicated to the Archangel Michael, with the participation of the engineers Francisco Bambitelli and Manuel Agustín Mascaró. The work was left unfinished that same year and put up for auction. In 1806 it was acquired by the City Council.

The building, in poor condition for years, became the seat of the Heroic Military College in 1833. The "Caballero Alto" tower was built, and it is what gives the complex the air of a fortress and the name of a castle. In 1847, during the US intervention, it held out for fourteen hours of siege under General Nicolás Bravo, with 832 soldiers and cadets. It is a fundamental part of its history, but it does not summarise it: the building accumulated other functions before and after.

Between 1864 and 1867, during the Second Mexican Empire, Maximilian of Habsburg and the empress Carlota chose the castle as their residence, captivated by the view over the valley of Mexico. Neoclassical arcades inspired by Paris were added, along with balconies on the south facade, a central portico, a tower linking the floors, loggias with iron columns, the Las Bacantes murals by Santiago Rebull, billiard and carriage rooms, and the ramp that connected to the Paseo de la Emperatriz. The complex became known as the Palacio Imperial de Chapultepec, or "Miravalle".

From 1872 the castle became the presidential residence again. In 1878 the Astronomical Observatory was inaugurated in the Caballero Alto and the staircase of lions was built; that same year the first experimental telephone transmission in Mexico was made from the telegraph office in the tower. Porfirio Díaz used it first as a summer house and from 14 April 1896 as his main residence. He installed lifts, a lightning rod, the Galería de Emplomados with its Paris-made stained glass, and a private boudoir in Maximilian’s old tea room.

In 1934, Lázaro Cárdenas chose Los Pinos as the presidential residence because the castle seemed "too sumptuous" for a country under reconstruction. On 27 September 1944, by his decree, the castle became the National Museum of History and opened to the public that same day. Today the INAH runs the site, with rooms that recreate everything from the viceregal period to the Mexican Revolution, and more than a hundred thousand objects in its collection.

Not everything has to become an historical fact sheet. The Castle stands at 2,325 metres above sea level, and its terrace is part of the story of the place. Stop there for a moment: the view explains why the viceroys chose this spot, and why afterwards everyone else wanted to build on top of it.