MORELIA - Morelos's Birthplace - Story

Morelos's birthplace - Casa Natal de Morelos - on Calle La Corregidora wraps around two small interior patios with potted plants. There's a stillness here, broken only by some popular music playing from a nearby room.

The house has several rooms, filled with old lithographs and drawings of the city, the cathedral, murals of Morelos and other independence fighters, maps of his military campaigns and his movements as a prisoner, coins minted by revolutionaries and insurgents, plus historical documents beneath glass cases.

There's a summary of his trial; most tragic is a lithograph of the 1815 execution of Morelos by firing squad. However, an inspiring letter written by the great leader says he will liberate America of slavery, and outside his memory remains free.

I step into the sunny courtyard with russet brick, rose bushes, purple Hawaiian ti, pink geraniums, Mexican heather and spreading orchid trees with violet blossoms. I pass a stone wall buttressed against the forces of nature and enter an enclosed area with a cantera floor and white stucco walls.

An image of Morelos with his hand over his heart faces a torch with a bright flickering fire. He's surrounded by flags from the Independence movement and the modern Mexican flag.