Francisco Villa Museum
The Francisco Villa Museum is dedicated to the life and times of Mexican Revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa. This museum is in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, the city where Villa was killed. The museum is located in the exact place where the assassination took place.
History Behind the Museum
The house that is now known as the museum of Francisco "Pancho" Villa was constructed between the ages of 1905 and 1907. The amazing house/museum is located in Chihuahua Mexico on 3010, Colonia Santa Rosa. By June 1911 the house was acquired by General Francisco Villa when he was alive. When the house was purchased it didn't fulfill Villa need,so by the time when Villa governor of Chihuahua in the early 1914, he began to remodel and enlarge the area making it a residence known as the Quinta Luz in honor of his loving wife, Luz Corral. The works of the remodeled house was made possible by Mr. Santo Vega, Mr. Hilario Berumen, Manuel Portillio and Italian Painter Mario Ferrer. This amazing house was remodeled into three section: the Main house which is where General Villa stayed, the back house and the Courtyard. By the 1915 the amazing house remodeled by General Villa became abandoned, when the family of Villa took refuge in the United States. As more and more time flew by Ms. Corral returned back missing five years of her loving Mexico. Five years of not going to Mexico, Ms. Corral returned to her loving home in Mexico. Unfortunately because of the conflicts that were going on around that time frame, Ms. Corral only lasted till 1923 when the Centaurio del Norte was assassinated in Parral, Chihuahua.
By the time 1981 Ms. Luz Corral had no other choice but to donate the house to the ministry of defense because she was in a poor condition and to advance in age to take care of the housing where the General stayed and did his duties. Ms. Corral made an offer to the Ministry that when she passed away the house was going to be donated to them if and only if they made into a museum in honor of the General Villa. The Ministry of Defense accepted the offer and Ms. Corral donated the house by the late 1981, but because of the poor state in which it was received many restorations had to be made by the National Institute of Anthropology and History. Ms. Corral wish was fulfilled when doors opened once again on November 17, 1982 under the name of the Historical Museum of the Revolution. Within the House, the office and music room was used to display the personal belongings of General Francisco Villa. Also within the museum people have the opportunity to see photographs and other personal belongings of the revolutionary era of Francisco Villa. The museum is interesting overall, but on object that really pops out when going to visit the museum is the car in which he was traveling with his escort the day he was assassinated.
Within the Museum
Within the First floor of the Museum people can observe utensils and furniture that were commonly used by the Villa Corral family.
On the second floor of the museum people are able to observe five showrooms, but also on second floor people are able to go through the Hall of Arms where historical weapons Francisco Villa used in many combat mission while being part of the Northern Division. Some the weapons that are displayed are a variety of revolvers, rifles, machine guns, Calvary sabers, baskets and leather cases with brass as well as a photograph of Rafael Mendoza, a native of Maderas, Chihuahua , who during the Mexican Revolution Mexican invented the first machine gun air cooled 250 rounds per minute.
In one of the showcases known as the Room Tour Tragic people are able to witness the death of General Villa. Within the showcase there is a display that shows the map of the route General Villa took before his assassination, also on display are photographs and his death mask, taken three hours after his death.
Gallery
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Gen. Francisco Villa and Mrs. Luz Corral , 1914.
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Villa's bedroom. Note pistol hanging from headboard.
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The common saddles that were mainly used by Villa and his men are also known as the McClellan saddle, developed by General George Brinton. The saddle was a reliable saddle since it could be used to fit any size of horse.
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The 1919 Dodge roadster in which Francisco Villa was assassinated. Francisco Villa was assassinated within the car in 1923 on a drive home, when someone shouted out of nowhere "Villa Villa!" and seven riflemen appeared shooting Francisco Villa to his death. About forty bullets were fired into the car. The Car itself can be viewed in the courtyard of the Museum
The curator of the museum is Adolfo Carrasco Vargas.
See also
External links
"Pancho Villa, the Museum", New York Times
- http://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/how-did-pancho-villa-die.html
- https://travlynshoes.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/leaving-pancho-villa/
- http://sic.gob.mx/ficha.php?table=museo&table_id=926#