Cerro de las Campanas

The Cerro de las Campanas (Hill of the Bells) is a low hill at the western edge of Querétaro's urban area where, in June 1867, the French-backed Emperor Maximilian was captured during the Siege of Querétaro and then executed alongside two of his generals. The site marks the end of the Second Mexican Empire and one of the defining moments of 19th-century Latin American history.

A large bronze statue of President Benito Juárez — the republican leader who ordered the execution — looks down from the summit. Below it, the small Emperor Maximilian Memorial Chapel, built by the Austrian government and inaugurated in 1901, marks the spot of the execution. The combination of triumphant republican statue and Austrian memorial chapel sitting side by side is distinctly odd, and all the more interesting for it. The hill is now a national park with good views over the city.

things to do sight
A story
It was on this hill on 19 June 1867 that Emperor Maximilian of Mexico — Archduke Maximilian of Austria, installed as Emperor by Napoleon III — was executed by firing squad alongside his generals Miramón and Mejía. As a final irony, the Austrian government later built a memorial chapel on the hill as an act of reconciliation; Mexico allowed it. The chapel still stands, maintained by the Austrian government.