Colonial Period
In 1775 Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez ordered the construction of a country house for himself at the highest point of Chapultepec Hill. Francisco Bambitelli, Lieutenant Colonel of the Spanish Army and engineer, drew up the blueprint and began the construction on August 16 of the same year.
After Bambitelli's departure to Havana, Captain Manuel Agustín Mascaró took over the leadership of the project and during his tenure the works proceeded at a rapid pace. Mascaró was accused of building a fortress with the intent of rebelling against the Spanish Crown from there. His sudden death on November 8, 1786, fueled speculation that he may have been poisoned; however no evidence has ever been found supporting this claim.,
Without an engineer in charge, the Crown ordered the building to be auctioned to a price equivalent to one fifth of the total already spent of the project. After finding no buyers Viceroy Juan Vicente de Güemes Pacheco de Padilla y Horcasitas intended the building to house the General Archive of the Kingdom of the New Spain; that idea was not to prosper either despite already having the blueprints adapted for this purpose.
Alexander von Humboldt visited the site in 1803 and condemned the sale of the palace’s windows by the Royal Treasury as a way of raising funds for the Crown. The building was finally bought in 1806 by the municipal government of Mexico City.
Read more about this topic: Chapultepec Castle
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