Hacienda Chenché de las Torres Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Hacienda Chenché de las Torres
Private Residence
Entrance Hacienda Chenché de las Torres, Yucatán.
Hacienda Chenché de las Torres Location in Mexico
Country	Mexico
Mexican States	Yucatán
Municipalities	Temax
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Postal code	97515
Area code	991

The Hacienda Chenché de las Torres is a beautiful old estate found in the Temax Municipality. It is located in the state of Yucatán in southeastern Mexico. This hacienda was built during the 1800s, when a plant called henequen was very important. It was once owned by a noble family, the Count and Countess of Miraflores.

What's in a Name?
Finding Your Way to Chenché
A Glimpse into History
Exploring the Architecture
People of Chenché de las Torres
Photo gallery
See also

What's in a Name?

The name Chenché de las Torres mixes two languages. Chenché comes from the Mayan language. Torres is a Spanish word that means "towers." So, the name means "Chenché of the Towers."

Finding Your Way to Chenché

To get to Chenché de las Torres from Mérida, head northeast on Highway 176. This road goes towards Temax. After about 15 kilometers, turn right when you see the sign for Chenché.

A Glimpse into History

This hacienda was first owned by the Count and Countess of Miraflores. Later, in the 1700s, a family called Manzanilla took over the property. They got it from Countess Dona Candelaria Peón y Peón, who was the last person in the Miraflores family to own it.

In the 1950s, the Manzanilla family left the hacienda. They left behind many old records in a storage room. A smart anthropologist named Michel Antochiw Kolpa convinced them to give these records to an organization called Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas de México (ADABI). This group helps save important historical documents. These records tell us a lot about the history of Yucatán.

Today, Isabelle Kimmelman owns the hacienda. She has been working hard to restore it and make it beautiful again.

Exploring the Architecture

The main house of the hacienda looks like an old European castle. It has two tall towers, about 15 to 20 meters high. The walls are decorated with special family symbols called heraldic shields. These shields were popular in places like Germany and England a long time ago.

On the outside walls, near the front door, you can see the family symbols of the Count and Countess of Miraflores. They were the ones who changed the building to look like a castle. The hacienda also has lovely gardens with local plants and a chapel built in a neo-Gothic style.

By the 1950s, the house was empty and falling apart. In 2001, a big project began to fix it. Workers replaced missing ceilings and repaired broken tile floors and walls. They also fixed up the gardens and the chapel. They tried to keep as much of the original building as possible. For example, the old stone steps at the entrance were saved.

When new floors were needed, they used "pasta" or "mosaico" tiles. These special tiles are still made in the area. The chapel, which used to serve the local community, has been fully restored. The hacienda is a private home and is not open to the public.

The current owner, Isabelle Kimmelman, reused many things found on the property. Old wooden beams were turned into a huge dining room table. A fancy railing found in a storage room was cut to make the table's legs. Beautiful designs on the walls were copied using stencils. Local craftspeople then recreated these designs throughout the house.

People of Chenché de las Torres

In 1937, the Mexican government made a big change called the agrarian land reform. This change meant that large haciendas, like Chenché de las Torres, could no longer be huge private communities. Most of the land was given to local farmers to use as collective farms, called ejidos. The original landowners could only keep about 150 hectares for their private use.

Before 1937, the population numbers included everyone living on the hacienda. After 1937, the numbers show people living in the nearby community. The Hacienda Chenché de las Torres itself now only houses the owner's family.

According to a count in 2005 by INEGI, the community had 317 people. There were 177 men and 140 women.