Located on
the site of the Ex-hacienda San Servando, the school was inaugurated
on Monday August 23th, 1999 by the President Of Mexico at the
time, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon accompanied by the Secretary
of Public Education, the governor of the State, Manuel Angel
Nunez Soto, and by the Rector of the Universidad Autonoma del
Estado de Hidalgo, Juan Manuel Camacho Bertran. Courses commenced
on July 26, 1999, offering two undergraduate degrees in Administration
and Computer Systems.
This University
Campus benefits the youth from the municipalities of Ajacuba,
Actopan, Atitalaquia, Atotonilco de Tula, Chilcuautla, Cruz Azul,
Francisco I. Madero, Ixmiquilpan, Mixquiahuala, Progreso de Obregon,
Tequixquiac, Tepejì del Río, Tepetitlan, Tetepango,
Tezontepec, Tlahuelipan, Tlaxcoapan, Tula, San Salvador y Zimapan,
among others.
Tlahuelipan
is a Nahuatl word which means “Land of showers”.
It is situated in the Valle del Mezquital in the State of Hidalgo.
This was one of the places where the Aztecs settled during their
journey toward Tenochtitlan. Father Francisco Ruiz mentioned
in his 1569 chronicals that Tlahuelipan consisted of one church,
5 cloisters, and 380 inhabitants. In 1585, a religious Mission
was established on this site which was populated by Toltec-Otomi
bands.
From 1540
until the beginning of the 20th Century, Tlahuelipan has been
the property of various chieftains and political bosses, among
them Pedro Moctezuma, Miguel Ignacio Moreno, Jose Gomez de la
Cortina, Don Servando Gomez de la Cortina (who changed the name
of San Francisco to San Servando). In 1802, the Hacienda Tlahuelipan
was formally established.
In its first
stages, the Hacienda belonged to the Moctezuma family, descendants
of the last Aztec Emperor. During the colonial period it changed
ownership. At the end of the 18th Century and beginning of the
19th Century, the owner was the Count de la Cortina. The Hacienda
had more than 300 laborers and almost 400 hectares of land dedicated
to agriculture as well as animal husbandry, blacksmithery, saddlery,
carriage making, and carpentry.
Located
in the town center, this Hacienda played a leading
role in Mexican history. After the Revolution and
the formation of common lands, it felt into disuse
as most of the laborers who had worked at the hacienda
became small land holders.
For many years
after Tlahuelipan became a municipality on October 28, 1968 which
came into effect on January 1, 1970, the Hacienda was subject
to numerous renovations that paid no regard to the original,
typical colonial Mexican hacienda style of architecture.
The Hacienda
was built inside a rectangle protected by towers and fortifications.
The main façade is made up of a portal with five arches
supported by columns made of quarried stone.
It has two
floors. On the second level, there is a series of murals displaying
the local customs of various haciendas which show the enormous
influence of Tlahuelilpan throughout the region. Today, we can
still see the huge warehouses of the barns with one, two, and
up to three cannons, stables, water troughs, huge courtyards,
and corridors with arches made from rocks and quarried stone..
