Mexico Guide
Northern Jalisco and Michoacán
Palacio de Gobierno
Dominating the eastern side of Plaza de Armas is the Palacio de Gobierno (daily 9am–8pm; free), recognizable by its Baroque facade with a clock surrounded by elements from the Aztec calendar. Here Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (the "father of Mexican Independence") proclaimed the abolition of slavery in 1810, and, in 1858, Benito Juárez was saved from the firing squad by the cry of "Los valientes no asesinan" – "the brave don't murder". The overwhelming reason to penetrate the arcaded courtyard, however, is to see the first of the great Orozco murals.
The main mural dates from 1937 and is typical of Orozco's work – Hidalgo blasts triumphantly through the middle, brandishing his sword against a background of red flags and the fires of battle. Curving around the sides of the staircase, scenes depict the Mexican people's oppression and struggle for liberty, from a pre-Conquest Eden to post-revolutionary emancipation. Upstairs in the domed Congress Hall a smaller Orozco mural (his last, painted just before his death in 1949) also depicts Hidalgo, this time as El Cura de Dolores (the priest from Dolores), legislator and liberator of slaves.