OVERVIEW
In the southeast of Mexico, surrounded by the clear blue waters of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, lies the state of Campeche, where the great Mayan culture once flourished amidst tropical forests. Only a 10 minute drive from the airport of Campeche and 1 1/2 hour drive from the International Airport of Merida, is the Hacienda Puerta Campeche.
Puerta Campeche, a 17th century colonial building, strategically located in the historical city centre of Campeche, recognized and protected by the international patrimony of the UNESCO, recreates the belle époque of the Mexican southeast. The 15 rooms and suites are full with exquisite details and located in the main 17th century building, all overlooking the amazing swimming pool and the gardens of the hotel.
BRIEF HISTORY
XVII Century
1685 On the morning on July 6th 1685 the city of Campeche was attacked by pirates lead by the French pirate Laurent de Graff. From the start, the town's new occupiers relentlessly ransacked the city, house by house, business by business and above all, church by church. Campeche was a favorite with pirates. It had grown wealthy from the export of dyewood and other precious woods and the cultivation of tobacco on nearby plantations. The streets were lined with churches and fine houses built by prosperous merchants, making the city a worthwhile prize for any pirate. As an added bonus, the port's defenses were weak. Pirate ship captains were often fully paid-up members of the sailing club, seamen with skill and experience in ocean navigation and warlike tendencies. They were usually organized by countries that were enemies of Spain and the Papal Bull, a decree which had granted Spain almost the entire Americas, leaving out other great powers like England, France and Holland. England, in particular, gave tacit royal approval to pirate attacks, for a share of the booty. The incursion of the pirates forced the government to take action and, after approval from Spain, the construction of the fortification of "Villa de San Francisco de Campeche" began.
1686 On January 3, the governor Juan Bruno Tello de Guzmán, supervised the first stage of the laying of the foundations of the wall that would surround the Spanish establishment. The government received many proposals for the project. Finally, it was the plan presented by a military engineer called Jaime Frank that was selected, although several parts of the wall that went around the "Villa de Campeche" were actually constructed by Pedro Osorio de Cervantes.
XVIII Century
1704 The construction of the 2-meter-thick wall was finished. Built in the shape of an irregular polygon, two sides of 6 meters in height looked out to sea and six more sides 7.9 meters high, faced inland. Every corner of the polygon was protected by a bastion, each with 16 cannons.
1738 At the beginning of April an official communication was sent by the local government to the Spanish Court to inform them about the changes that had taken place to the entrance ways to the main square as well as the fact that the "Puerta de Tierra" was now officially opened.
1779 One of the first records of "Casa Guerrero" located in the historical city center of Campeche between 18th street and the 59th street can be observed in a detailed city map of Campeche, created in this year by an military engineer called Agustín Cramer. On this map appears the building, which had not been on previous maps in the same year.
XIX Century
1810 From the beginning of this century, the building became known as "Casa Guerrero" due to the family name of the owners. The first member of the family who became owner of the house was D. Eligio Guerrero Quero. He was an accountant, married to Rosario Méndez Estrada and they had four children: Eligio, Rosario, Gonzalo y Fernando.
1870 In the beginning of this year D. Eligio established a wholesaler store with the name: "El Bronce", located in the building on the 59th street marked with the number 71. The wholesale business sold mainly products imported from Europe like champagne from the trade house "Les Pommery" in France as well as French, Spanish and Italian wines. They also sold cheeses, overseas groceries and a variety of national products like cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, wines and rum produced in Campeche.
1873 Due to increasing revenues over the years D. Eligio Guerrero decided to use part of the store as a barn for corn, sugar, beans, lentils and salt as well as storeroom for the other merchandise. He was also involved in the exportation of henequen, dyewood and gum. D. Eligio also established the first soap factory in Campeche, located at the end of the building. In the different storerooms of "Casa Guerrero" oak barrels were used to keep the locally produced liquor as well as the wine that was imported from Europe.
1882 Over the years Don Eligio had many employees in different positions working for him. In the records written in this year the following names were mentioned Enrique Puerto, Francisco Puga and Rómulo Canto Heredia. The wholesale business "El Bronce" was the first choice for the country estates which were located on the south side of Campeche to purchase their merchandise, one of its clients was: Hacienda Uayamon.
1885 In the same building as the shop was a public telephone service, this gave the people in Campeche the possibility to communicate with most of the Haciendas located on the south side of Campeche. The person in charge of this "public telephone" was Mr. José Felipe Ek Caballero.
XX Century
1912 During the uprising by the Governor of Campeche against the Federal Government, the shop was ransacked by soldiers from the Federal Army, as were most of the other shops in the city. The shop owned by one of the brothers Estrada McGregor which was located in the 51st street between the 8th and the 10th street was also destroyed.
1914 On September 9th, D. Eligio died of unspecified health problem in a hospital in Mexico City. After all the set backs of the last few years, his death resulted in the shop finally closing and the building, that previously was used for the wholesale business, was left to the widow Rosario Méndez Estrada. Alter her death the buildings became property of her son Gonzalo Guerrero Méndez.
1940 After the death of Gonzalo the "Casa Guerra" became the property of his brother and sisters: Eligio, Gladis del Socorro and Mirella Guerrero Estrada. They consolidated the name to the Guerrero Méndez Brothers and Eligio Guerrero Estrada became the sole owner of the building.
1944 The building started to be used as a storeroom for the henequen fibers, which were produced in the Haciendas San Antonio Yaxá, Imí and Xtelchel. But after the economic decline of the Sisal fiber the building was abandoned for a time.
1950 The last news we have is that "Casa Guerra" was restored and adapted to become a "guest house".
XXI Century
2004 The Hacienda, after being restored for almost four years by a team of architects and restoration specialists, was opened as a hotel in June.
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