Government Palace

Government Palace (Palacio Gobierno) is at the n. end of Plaza de Armas. Now housing the state of Querétaro offices, it was once the home of Doña Josefa Ortiz, or “La Corregidora” (the mayor's wife), the heroine of the 1810 War of Independence. Under house arrest, she whispered instructions through a keyhole to a messenger to warn insurgents Father Miguel Hidalgo and Capt. Ignacio Allende in the nearby town of Dolores. As a result, Hidalgo immediately issued his famous cry (grito) for independence. More than 50 years later, Archduke Maximilian presided over many meetings here.