The Alhóndiga de Granaditas is an old grain storage building in Guanajuato City, Mexico. This historic building was created to replace an old grain exchange near the city's river. The name Alhóndiga translates roughly from both Arabic and Spanish as grain market or warehouse. It is equivalent to the regional grain exchange. Its construction lasted from 1798 to 1809, by orders of Juan Antonio de Riaño y Bárcena, a Spaniard who was the quartermaster of the city during the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his insurgent army stormed the building during the first battle of the Mexican War of Independence, leading to the leyend of el Pípila. The building received World Heritage listing as part of the Historic Town of Guanajuato in 1988.
Alhóndiga de Granaditas
The interior of the Grain Exchange
The corner of the Grain Exchange where Hidalgo's head used to hang.
A part of one of the two murals in the Grain Exchange
Guanajuato is a municipality in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is part of the macroregion of the Bajío. It is located in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow and winding. Most are alleys that cars cannot pass through, and some are long sets of stairs up the mountainsides. Many of the city's thoroughfares are partially or fully underground. The historic center has numerous small plazas and colonial-era mansions, churches, and civil constructions built using pink or green sandstone. The city historic center and the adjacent mines were proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.
Image: Vista aérea de Guanajuato
Image: Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato 2.2 (cropped)
Image: Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato (33085674731)
Image: Explanada de la Alhondiga de Granaditas