If you’re planning a vacation to Mexico, you’re probably looking to book a room or two in an all-inclusive resort like the Hyatt Regency Cancun. It’ll be pretty swanky; the drinks will flow aplenty, there will be buffets each night, and your resort might even have a private beach just for the guests. Well, while all of that is certainly a version of the high life, it can’t compare to the Chapultepec Castle at the height of its glory. It’s the only Royal Castle in existence in the Americas.
The castle was built in 1785, at the command of the Viceroy Bernardo de Galvez. It sits on a hill which was a sacred Aztec site, in the center of modern day Mexico City. The construction was rife with mysterious deaths, multiple patrons, and accusations of being an anti-Spanish fortress. The finished palace was abandoned during the Mexican War of Independence from 1810 to 1821, a mere four years after its purchase by the Mexican government. It became the home of the Military Academy in 1833 and was taken by the United States forces during the Mexican-American War.
During the Second Mexican Empire, from 1864 to 1867, the Emperor Maximilian I and his wife Carlota inhabited the castle as the seat of their Royal Court. Under their direction, the building underwent several renovations to update it to a neoclassical architectural design while creating an aerial garden on the roof. Three years after taking the throne, the royals were deposed and their residence once again fell into disuse.
In 1876, Chapultepec was decreed to be the home of the Astronomical, Meteorological, and Magnetic Observatory; though it opened in 1878, it only remained on the site for five years before moving to another location. The castle was then the home of many Mexican presidents, from 1882 onwards. These included Porfirio Diaz, Alvaro Obregon, Emilio Portes Gil, and Pascual Ortiz Rubio.
Finally in 1939 the current president, Lazaro Cardenas, made the palace into the National Museum of History, and moved the official presidential residence to the Los Pinos house. While the Museum eventually moved to a different locale as well, Chapultepec Castle has remained an historic Mexican landmark and is visited by tourists every year. While the country has other palatial houses, it only has one Royal Castle, truly unique in all of the Western Hemisphere.