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February 6, 2010

Mexico Travel – Guanajuato: A Meeting with a Pottery Artist, Mexican Independence Remembered in the Alhóndiga and a Market Experience

After a beautiful restful night in my suite at the Quinta Las Acacias I had woken up really hungry and was looking forward to breakfast. This family-owned boutique hotel was built as a private mansion in 1890 and has become one of Guanajuato’s foremost luxury historic hotels since its opening in 1998.


The historic Quinta Las Acacias boutique hotel

On a crisp morning with brilliant sunshine I walked through the hotel’s manicured grounds to the restaurant in the hotel’s main building. After a healthy fruit salad I settled in for an apple cinnamon crepe that was beautifully decorated with bougainvilleas from the hotel garden. My sightseeing tour of the city was not scheduled to start until 10:30 am, so I had a bit of extra time after breakfast to explore the local sights.


Delicious apple cinnamon crepes with bougainvilleas

Just outside the front door of the Quinta Las Acacias is an attractive park that is nestled around a river that flows into downtown Guanajuato. To provide the city with a constant supply of water, a dam was completed in 1749 that is called Presa de la Olla. Today the dam is part of an attractive linear park that is often used for special events. One of the dams along the river had actually been damaged just a few days ago and workmen were working on repairing it.


The badly damaged Presa de la Olla dam

I headed back to the hotel because my local guides Sujei and Roberto had arrived and were ready to take me on a sightseeing tour of Guanajuato. Our first stop was at the Gorky Pottery where 69 year old owner Gorky Gonzalez showed us around his renowned local ceramics workshop which produces traditional majolica pottery that is exported around the world.

Gorky Gonzalez used to create workshops in different parts across Mexico such as San Miguel de Allende and the village of Marfil until he dedicated himself to the rescuing the traditional art of majolica in Guanajuato. His wife, Hisato Murayama, was instrumental in taking him to Japan where he studied Japanese pottery techniques under several Japanese pottery masters.


Gorky Gonzalez and his wife Hisato Murayama

We started our tour with the private living area of Gorky and Hisato which is highlighted by an extensive art and pottery collection with pieces from all across Latin America. One of Mexico’s famous muralist painters, José Chavez Morado, painted a portrait of Gorky’s wife, and other Mexican fine painters are represented as well.

From this impressive art collection we started our tour of Gorky’s workshop where he explained the production of majolica. An Italian kiln fires high quality ceramic products at a temperature of 1020 degrees Celsius. The clay actually comes from the local mountains and is mixed with other clays from other areas. Today’s kiln is computer controlled while an older kiln had to be controlled manually. Natural gas, the fuel for the kiln, has to be handled very carefully in order to prevent possible explosions. All the items undergo two firings.


Gorky Gonzalez' pottery is exported all over the world

Gorky also introduced us to the paint techniques that are applied to Mexican majolica. Traditional motifs are painted on with horse or squirrel hair brushes and the five main colours are blue (made from cobalt oxide), yellow (antimony oxide), black (manganese), green (copper) and a coffee colour (made from a local riverstone called siderite). Gorky Pottery employs several local craftspeople that handle the production and the painting of the pottery.

For his artistic achievements Gorky Gonzalez has won numerous awards, including awards from the Government of Guanajuato, the Federal Mexican Government and various awards from national art organizations. He has travelled the world to participate in exhibitions such as the 1965 New York World Fair; Expo Montreal in 1967; and expositions in Japan, Italy, the United States, Brasil, Peru, Uruguay, Egypt, Germany and France. Gorky Gonzalez’ pottery creations have truly touched the world.


Beautiful pottery at Gorky Gonzalez' workshop

After this interesting studio tour we got back in our van and started driving downtown. Guanajuato’s topography is very unique as the city is embedded among a series of hills and mountain slopes. What is truly unique about this city are the tunnels that run underneath different parts of the city. The Guanajuato River used to flow in tunnels underneath the city, but after engineers rerouted the river into underground caverns in the middle of the twentieth century, these tunnels have been converted into roadways. I was fascinated by the cobble-stoned tunnels that carry most of the traffic through the city. Due to a general lack of space throughout the city, many people park their cars underground beside the roadways, and many people walk through the tunnels at all hours of the day.


Tunnels criss-cross Guanajuato

Our short drive took us to one of Guanajuato’s main attractions: the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, an old grain storage building that was built between 1798 and 1809. With its almost square shape, its impressive size and its small windows the Alhóndiga is more reminiscent of a medieval castle. Based on its fortification-like architecture this building played a key role during the Mexican War of Independence in 1810.

When the insurgent troops of Miguel Hidalgo approached Guanajuato, the local Spanish colonial rulers barricaded themselves inside the Alhóndiga and thought themselves safe from the attack of the insurgents. Local miner Juan José de los Reyes Martinez, also called El Pípila, decided to break down and torch the door of the Alhóndiga, protected by a large stone on his back from the muskets of the Spanish troops. Once the door had burned down, the insurgents stormed the Alhóndiga and killed all the Spanish soldiers and civilians that had sought shelter inside.


Interior courtyard of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas

In this manner El Pípila had become one of the most important independence war heroes in Mexico and a huge monument was erected in his honour on a hill overlooking the city of Guanajuato. The nickname “El Pípila”, which literally means “turkey hen”, had actually been given to him because he had been born with mental and physical birth defects. But based on his courage and strength he became one of the most important heroes of Mexico’s War of Independence.

Today the Alhóndiga de Granaditas holds a large museum, the Museo Regional La Alhóndiga de Granaditas, that documents local history, from Prehispanic Meso-American art to the colonial era that was dominated by the Spanish, the local history of silver mining, to the making of modern Mexico from the War of Independence in 1810 to the long-ruling dictator Porfirio Diaz who controlled the country from 1876 to 1911. The Alhóndiga is also used as a large open-air auditorium for live performances during the annual International Cervantino Festival.


Detail of mural in the staircases of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas

One of the most stunning features of the Alhóndiga are the murals by José Chavez Morado painted in two stairwells in the 1950s and 1960s. They illustrate historic events and the struggles of the Mexican people for independence. One of the most striking images is that of the severed head of Father Miguel Hidalgo, the leader of the Independence Movement, who was executed by the Spaniards in 1811 for instigating the revolt against the Spanish a year earlier. After he was executed by the shot of a rifle, he was decapitated and his head and the heads of three other independence fighters were displayed on the four corners of the Alhóndiga for ten years, until the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821. Today Miguel Hidalgo is celebrated as the “Father of the Nation”, and every month a lighting ceremony inside the Alhóndiga remembers his contribution to the independence of Mexico.


Father Miguel Hidalgo was executed by the Spanish

Sujei and I then set off to explore our next destination, the Mercado Hidalgo, Guanajuato’s historic municipal market. On our way there, we stopped and walked through a church called the Parroquia de la Immacolada Corazon de Maria, an example of Mexican baroque.

Walking through the busy streets of Guanajuato we arrived at the Mercado Hidalgo, which was built in the early 1900s and inaugurated by then President Porfirio Diaz in 1910. The building is reminiscent of a train station and was constructed on the location of an old bullring. The domed roof is held up by iron support beams, and a gallery on the second floor allows a great view over the dozens of merchant’s stands.


Interior of the Mercado Hidalgo

The main floor mostly holds stands for food-related products, from meat to vegetables and fish, eggs, tortillas and many other items. The upstairs gallery holds stalls for clothing, souvenirs, pottery, woodcarvings, clay figurines and many more. Religious art as well as the typically Mexican skull figures (“calaveras”, general representations of skulls in connection with the Day of the Dead, and “catrinas”, the more elegant female version with long dresses and large hats) add more colour to this bustling marketplace.


"Catrinas" at the Mercado Hidalgo

After a very busy morning we were finally starting to head towards a restaurant to have a much deserved lunch before we would continue our explorations in the afternoon.


Useful Books:

     


Useful Links:

The Official Tourism Office of Guanajuato


Related Articles:

Mexico Travel: Studying Spanish in Guadalajara
Mexico Travel: Discoveries in Tlaquepaque and Tonalá
Mexico Travel: A First Look at Guanajuato, the La Valenciana Mine and El Pípila
Mexico Travel: Downtown Guanajuato & the luxurious Quinta Las Acacias Hotel
Mexico Travel: Admiring ceramic art and exploring Guanajuato's history at La Alhóndiga
Mexico Travel: Guanajuato's famous and eerie Mummy Museum
Mexico Travel: Bicycling adventures in the mountains of Guanajuato
Mexico Travel: The Diego Rivera Museum in Guanajuato
Mexico Travel: A sightseeing tour of Guadalajara
Mexico Travel: The Cultural Centre El Refugio in Tlaquepaque
Mexico Travel: A Driving Tour of Lake Chapala: Mexcala Island, Chapala Town, Ajijic
Mexico Travel: Retiring on Lake Chapala - Meeting someone who did it
Mexico Travel: The Guadalajara Language Center and the Tlaquepaque Municipal Market
Mexico Travel: A driving tour to Tequila: Seeing how Tequila is made
Mexico Travel: A walking tour of Tlaquepaque with a tourist police officer
Mexico Travel: Exploring the colonial city of Morelia and cathedral fireworks
Mexico Travel: The rural market town of Quiroga, home of the famous "carnitas"
Mexico Travel: Exploring Lake Patzcuaro - Tzintzuntzan, Janitzio and the town of Patzcuaro
Mexico Travel: The Magical Village of Cuitzeo and the Monastery of Santa Maria Magdalena
My language study adventure in Mexico 2006 in Cuernavaca (23 articles)

 

Related Videos:

 


A gorgeous early morning view over the valley from Quinta Las Acacias

 


The Presa de la Olla Dam

 


Gorky Gonzalez shows his private artwork collection

 


Gorky Gonzalez has collected some amazing art pieces over the years

 


Gorky Gonzalez points out an art piece from 1886

 


Pottery creation with a Japanese potter's wheel

 


Showing the kiln at the workshop of Gorky Gonzalez

 


Designs explained at Gorky Gonzalez' pottery workshop

 


Gorky Gonzalez and his prizes and awards

 


Entering La Alhóndiga

 


The courtyard of La Alhóndiga

 


Mural at La Alhóndiga by José Chavez Morado

 


La Alhóndiga Museum exhibit about the Chupicuaro tribe- original residents of Guanajuato

 


The Meso-American room at La Alhóndiga

 


The colonial era explained at La Alhóndiga

 


The Route of Independence illustrated at La Alhóndiga

 


Sujei explains Porfirio Diaz at La Alhóndiga

 


Hall of Heroes at La Alhóndiga

 


Leaving La Alhóndiga, walking through the colourful streets of Guanajuato

 


Entering the Mercado Hidalgo

 

 
The merchandise at the Mercado Hidalgo

 

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