José María Morelos, Q.R. — Reconstruction and restoration of the bell tower and façade of the Temple of X-Querol in the municipality of José María Morelos begins. The historical monument, located on the old colonial route Mérida-Peto-Ichmul-Sacalaca-Bacalar, will be rescued with the same stones.
In August 2023, due to heavy rains, one of the towers of the Temple of San Juan Bautista de X-Querol, in the municipality of José María Morelos, in Quintana Roo, collapsed.
Since then, the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), worked on the instrument and construction advice for this property in coordination with the state government, through the Secretariats of Public Works (Seop) and Tourism (Sedetur).
The director of the INAH Quintana Roo Center, Margarito Molina Rendón, reported that “Quintana Roo has 144 historical monuments, some of which, along with the 13 archaeological zones open to the public, out of a total of 543 registered, are subject to protection by of the INAH.”
She added that “the case of the chapel or temple of southern center of the peninsula, in an inhospitable territory with a dispersed population reluctant to the Spanish presence.
“The parish temple is among the oldest heritage sites on the peninsula. It was built between the 16th and 17th centuries and is part of the Mérida-Peto-Ichmul-Sacalaca-Bacalar colonial route, which goes from Yucatán to Quintana Roo.”
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) says the restoration project will cost around 1.4 million pesos. Of that, one million is contributed by the state government and 478,492 pesos by the INAH from the Community Support Fund for the Restoration of Historical Monuments and Artistic Assets of Federal Property (Foremoba), of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico.
The head of the Architecture Program at the INAH Quintana Roo Center, Luis Ojeda Pantoja, explained that the work will consist of shoring, removal of sections of masonry with detachments, removal of roots and plant elements that affected stability, reconstruction of the masonry, including walls, bell tower and dome, as well as restitution and consolidation of finishes and application of lime paint.
Mortars based on lime paste and stone powder will be used without using cement. The collapsed stone remaining on the site will be recovered, sorted and reused.
He highlighted that it is relevant to identify these commercial and communication routes in force until the beginning of the Mayan social war, which allows us to understand the historical and social processes of the peninsula that gave way to the territory and then state of Quintana Roo.
That route was taken by General Ignacio Bravo in his offensive to defeat and end the Mayan rebellion, which lasted 54 years, establishing his headquarters in the neighboring community of Ichmul, about three kilometers on the Yucatan side.
From Ichmul he advanced through X-Querol, then through Sacalaca, Chunhuhub, until taking the capital of the rebel Mayans Noh Cah Santa Cruz, today Felipe Carrillo Puerto, in 1901, ending the Caste War.
With the outbreak of the indigenous rebellion in 1847, the town, then called Celul, was abandoned by its inhabitants until it was repopulated more than a century later, in 1971, when Quintana Roo was still federal territory. The town acquired the name of Donato Cohuó Pech, who was 17 years old when the community was repopulated.
The work will be carried out by the Secretariats of Public Works under the regulations of the INAH.
