ORIZABA (english version)

The Aztec legend tells us that many centuries ago the most important Toltec spiritual leader, Quetzalcoatl, was betrayed by another rival priest and God, Tezcatlipoca. After his self-imposed exile and passing through the Valley of Orizaba, he climbed -as penitence- to the heights of the Great White Mountain where he sacrificed himself on a funeral pyre. His spirit raised from the ashes and then transformed into a great ball of fire that was carried to the heavens by a magnificent entourage of blue-green quetzal birds to become the Morning Star......and in God. Every morning, from the Valley of Orizaba, Quetzalcoatl can be seen as Venus atop of the majestic Mountain with it's beautiful and titillating shine. The Citlaltepetl or "the Mountain of the Star" is todays the imposing Pico de Orizaba. Stories and legends like these make of Orizaba one of the oldest and most significant cities in Mexico, way before the New Spain Colony.......Quetzalcoatl promised to take possesion of his kingdoms at the end of times......and to return through the same mountain, that one day would help him to reach the infinite and the sky...... During the New Spain Colony, Orizaba was one of the most important cities in the New World, due to it's strategic positioning in the commercial route of Europe, Vera-Cruz, Mexico, Asia and back. Orizaba grew up to be an important commercial and resting port for Europeans and Mexicans traveling through the country. Their rich cargo -the one that made Spain the richest kingdom of the world- would have to pass though the famous 'garitas' -gates- of Orizaba: Gold, Silks, Silver, Gems, Pearls, Art, Books, Food, Livestock, Travelers, Artists, Architects, Nobles and Writers with their Knowledge and Taste, they all passed through Orizaba. Almost three centuries later, Orizaba was an important participant in the War of Independence, as well as strategic point during the three US and the French invasion during the XIX century. During the second half of that century, Orizaba was capital of the State and the Country for some time. The rough winds of the Mexican Revolution in the XX century brought with them multiple Union disturbances to the region's rich productive factories, mainly textiles, claiming hundreds of lives among workers. Sacrificed lives that would help to set the rights for Mexican Workers in the future. The following decades brouhgt a relative peace to the city, except between the years 1926 and 1929, when President Plutarco Elias Calles renewed the enforcement of the Constitution of 1917 where 'Freedom of Cult' was outlawed and thus throwing a spark for the bloody "Guerra de los Cristeros" -"Christians's War"-. The city's inhabitants have to perform the rites of mass in the clandestinity and even many of our ancestors had to be Baptized or Married inside the catacombs and colonial tunnels that criss-cross the old city. A new era of progress came in the following decades, until the dawn of August 28, 1973, one of the worst earthquakes in the city's history, shook the buildings and the economical stability of the region. Hundreds of lives were lost in the tragedy as well as thousands of homeless left and countless buildings destroyed or seriously damaged. Among then, many colonial treasures. A deep economic depression invaded the region for decades until the end of the XX century when the city saw again the positive and progressive impetus that had characterized it for centuries. Progress, unfortunately, that came with a price, Orizaba started to distort it's beautiful Colonial facade of Great Lady. Many of it's Architectural Colonial treasures were lost in the name of "progress and modernity" . Orizaba felt victim to DESTRUCTION, dressed up in disguise as "progress". Recently, there's been an important cultural resurgence, particularly with the Governments of Arq, Isaias Rodriguez Vivas, Dr. Escudero Stadelman and mainly the current Mayor of Orizaba, Lic. Diez Francos and the Governor of Veracruz, Lic. Fidel Herrera Beltran, to restore the beauty that once made of Orizaba, the fifth most important city in Mexico, the most cultivated and educated of the nation and the most important in the State of Veracruz. The Region of Orizaba has been in the past, inspiration to many poets, writers, humanists, biologists, historians, entomologists, horticulturists, founding religious missionaries in California, composers, musicians and painters, inspiration that left eternally reflected on their canvasses or their papers how beautiful the city used to look to their eyes. It's up to us, it's priviliged children, that the beauty of our city could be preserved and restored to what our ancestors saw and what our own children could enjoy and cherish in the future. Preserve what our forefathers gave us with their blood , our Beautiful Cultural Heritage, our ORIZABA. Sincerely, MonjaAlferez09 .