The story of a hidden treasure in Puebla: a golden book, the last emperor of Mexico and a city that resisted coming out of the monarchy

Gold leaf document reveals that the state of Puebla resisted ceasing to swear an oath to the King of Spain after Mexico gained independence in 1821, being one of the last cities to pledge allegiance to the new emperor Mexican, Agustín de Iturbide.

After two decades of being hidden in the municipal archives of Puebla, a book with documents was found dated 1822 and which includes gold leaf with unique characteristics in Latin America.

Examining the text, they realized that it was the oath of Loyalty of the Poblano Cabildo to the Mexican Emperor during the Mexican independence process which shows that Puebla signed its membership on December 5, 1822.

Iturbide was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico independent on May 18, 1822 and crowned on July 21 of the same year, but with the disputes between Republicans and Liberals, it was agreed to proclaim the Republic byIt belongs to General Antonio López de Santa Anna, carrying out the abdication of Iturbide on March 19, 1823.

Alejandro Hernández Maimone, director of the municipal archives of Puebla, explained to Efe that the document shows various damages such as a green dye and some fungi caused by humidity, which is why a process of conservation and maintenance has started .

There are two other similar documents “one more in gold leaf and the other in silver colored material, although it has not yet been determined whether it is white gold or silver. “, he said.

These latter documents were to be found in a volume entitled “various documents”, in which news is gathered from the newspapers of 1822 and linked to information about the Iturbide jury.

“This document speaks of an interesting process of conformation of Mexico as a country, because the boards of directors or the councils of government swore loyalty and accepted independence. “Hernández Maimone indicated.

“But the first thing was to stop pledging allegiance to the king of Spain and then swear allegiance to the Mexican emperor in 1821 and 1822. What the document confirms is that Puebla was one of the last cities to swear allegiance to Iturbide “he added.

“This means that the city council of Puebla refused to stop taking the oath of loyalty to the King of Spain,” he said.

The specialist assured that the found document is unique in Latin America, because it has a different technique or invoice.

“A base paper was used in which an adhesive was placed to place the gold foil and later put it in a press, since the writing is inlaid and not painted as was traditionally done,” added the specialist.

He explained that the conservation process of withdrawing from I reserve the two bound documents to place them in special guards which have the conditions necessary for their conservation, since they are almost 200 years old without having had the diligence before.

Ezequiel Barba, restaurateur of Puebla Municipal Archives, revealed that the first document located had suffered a microbial attack when exposed to a source of moisture, hence the importance of saving and stabilizing it.

“It was decided to extract the document due to the advanced deterioration process and because it featured a very unique manufacturing technique,” ​​said Barba.

An analysis remains to be done to determine the materials it contains, its radiation, as well as to know the adhesives they used, in order to know what should be their care for the next years, Barba concludes.

With information from EFE

KEEP READING: