Heritage properties are permanent witnesses of the historical transition

Veracruz, Veracruz, The Casa Benito Juárez and the Centro Cultural Leyes de Reforma venues in the historic center of the port of Veracruz, inaugurated this weekend by the federal government and which will be open to the public starting in November, seek to promote knowledge of the historical period of the Reform and the importance of its civic legacy in today’s society.

Both buildings, built at the end of the 18th century, are listed as historical monuments by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH); at the time they were the seat of the constitutional government headed by President Benito Juárez during the Reform War, between 1858 and 1861.

The Benito Juárez House, located at 415 Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora Street, in the Centro neighborhood of Veracruz, was rented by the city council at the request of Governor Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora, to grant residence to Benito Juárez, between May 4, 1858 and February 28, 1859.

In an interview with The Day, Ricardo Cañas Montalvo, manager of the Veracruz City Museum and chronicler of the place, said that the site was chosen for its strategic location, Since it was located one block from the Acuña Gate of the wall that surrounded the city at that time, and in case of emergency they could get it out quickly..

The house where the Benemérito de las Américas lived is a two-story building; the lower part was occupied as a business and Juárez lived on the upper floor.

In that enclosure, The author of the Reform Laws had several important personal episodes, among them the birth of his daughter Jerónima Francisca Juárez Maza, on October 1, 1860..

Following the renovation work, the building has a 19th-century museum setting, which shows the context in which the life of Juárez, his family and his cabinet developed in this city.

The complex, which is undergoing a museum integration process, has permanent exhibition rooms on the ground floor that include a sample of Benito Juárez’s journey after leaving Mexico City, the work office of the president and his ministers, a transport room with a carriage and stables.

It also has a central courtyard, where the work can be appreciated Tennessee, by the artist Carmen Parra, alluding to the steamship on which Juárez arrived at the port of Veracruz in 1858.

On the upper floor, the spaces recreate the family atmosphere with bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and library, as well as an educational workshop room.

Enclosure for art

At the Leyes de Reforma Cultural Center, located at 43 Morelos Avenue on the corner of Constitución Street, in the Centro neighborhood of Veracruz, it was restored in allusion to the building that was located on the adjacent property, where Benito Juárez signed, together with his ministers, the first package of legislative provisions that marked the separation of Church and State.

Cañas Montalvo highlighted that Juárez enacted the Reform Laws in an adjacent building that was in what is now the Plazuela de la Reforma. That house was occupied for several years by a shipping line, and in the 70s it was so dilapidated that the building was demolished; at that time the INAH did not have such a strong presence, and a vacant lot remained..

During the municipal government of Ramón Poo Gil, the space was municipalized, benches and lighting were placed, and a relief by the Masonic artist Romulo Roso was installed, where you can see the Benemérito de las Américas together with his cabinet.

The Leyes de Reforma Cultural Center hosts the permanent exhibition Reform Laws, which shows aspects of the transformation of the State in its passage from a colonial regime to the establishment of civil rights independent of ecclesiastical or military corporations.

This space also has a large mural of Benito Juárez in the central courtyard, the work of Juchitecan artist Demián Flores.

“There are many elements of Juárez in the collective memory, such as the 20-dollar bills, and there are very few photos of Juárez; so the challenge was to recreate a face of Juárez that did not repeat those we have in our collective memory, but that at the same time was a very real part of what Juárez is.

So, I made this face that is based on the tradition of banknotes and that also recovers those faces of the muralist José Clemente Orozco, or those made by Francisco Toledo.Flores considered.

In addition, the comic strip is distributed on the site The rights we enjoy today, Illustrated by cartoonists José Hernández and Augusto Mora, with a prologue by writer Fabrizio Mejía Madrid.

The idea was to accompany the exhibition at the Centro Cultural Leyes de Reforma with a story that did not speak of its promulgation as something of the past, but rather as an event that remains important and fundamental in the daily life of 2024.said Jose Hernandez.

In the port of Veracruz, in addition to the Casa Benito Juárez and the Centro Cultural Leyes de Reforma, there are 300 historic buildings –made of muca stone– that require maintenance.

Cañas Montalvo believes that it is urgent to maintain other buildings in the city, including the one that housed the La Prueba cigar factory, located half a block from the Juárez residence, as well as the former Jesuit convent, known as the convent of the Company of Jesus, as well as the convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán.