Pirates, forts and colonial grandeur - the city of Campeche
Posted by Zihrena

Pirates, forts and colonial grandeur - the city of Campeche

Pedro Luis Munguia, The News Staff - 11/30/2001

The legendary city of Campeche is soon to celebrate its annual festival, making this a perfect time to visit the beautiful, historic location. The city has, in fact, enjoyed World Heritage status since 1999.

Overlooking Campeche Bay in the Gulf of Mexico, Campeche is one of the few cities in Mexico where visual contamination caused by advertisements is a battle fought and won, providing a model for other places across the country. The city, a model of colonial baroque style, is full of color and detailed architecture.

The village of San Francisco de Campeche was founded in the year 1540 where a Mayan town called Can Pech had been located. Its location in the Gulf of Mexico was strategic for the Spanish conquest of the Yucatan Peninsula, and it became an important seaport where its natural resources were exported to Europe. The large, splendidly recovered baluartes (fortresses) were built in the 16th and 17th centuries, when Campeche faced pirate attacks by daring seamen such as Henry Morgan and William Drake.

In some of the older neighborhoods of Campeche, such as Barrio San Roman, Barrio de San Francisco and Barrio de Guadalupe, legends are told generation after generation, often involving the rape or disappearance of local women and children as a result of pirate activities. Sometimes the corsairs would demand a ransom (something as valuable as gold, or as practical as drinking water and food) to return their victims to their homes in Campeche.

Some of Campeche's stories and legends have been maintained as oral traditions and may be heard in causal conversations at downtown cafés. After a centuries-old tradition, street poets and troubadours such as locally famous Hernan Herrera Baqueiro and Brigido Redondo still wander through the city's most popular meeting spots and recite their compositions. In order to cool down a little at sundown, the doors of many homes along 59th Street begin to open to let fresh air inside, while neighbors take their chairs out on the sidewalk to talk.

The Casa del Teniente del Rey (house of the king's representative) is located on that same street, which runs in a straight line from what's known as Puerta de Mar (the door to the sea) to Puerta de Tierra (door to the land). Doors, in a city under siege as Campeche was in times past, were strategic escapes, and even today possess a certain resonance. Campeche's City Theater on 12th Street, built in the 1830s, was named after poet and playwright Francisco de Paula y Toro, and was designed by French engineer -- and convict -- Theodore Journot. The Campeche Festival celebrations include a presentation of symbols of Campeche and its people, popular music, ballet, a piano concert, theater event, a video festival as well as visual arts exhibits.

Campeche is home to several impressive artists, such as Nelly Paz, Martin Nunez, Martin Uco Cuenca, Linda Lanz and Luis Carlos Hurtado to mention a few. Starting Dec. 13, Uco Cuenca will be holding an individual exhibit at the Joaquin Clausell Art Gallery. A philosophy seminar conducted by the state of Campeche and coordinated by scholar Luis Villoro will be held with the participation of 50 philosophers. That, and a Christmas concert with Mexico City's Symphony Orchestra, a Children's Congress to be held from Dec. 18 through Dec. 20 and a book fair sponsored and held at the UAC (Campeche's Autonomous University) round out the events that Campeche will host during its Festival.

The city of Campeche is located on the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Campeche.

Regular flights and coaches depart from Mexico City. (from the Mexico City News 11/30/2001)