Mérida, Yucatán, (August 12, 2021).- The president of the Board of Trustees for the Preservation of the Historic Center of Mérida, Enrique Ancona Teigell, indicated that of the six thousand buildings that make up this area of historical monuments, 300 show a notable deterioration, among which is the Ateneo Peninsular building, which recently suffered the collapse of one of its balconies.
Ancona Teigell shared that this figure was obtained after the last data collection carried out in 2017 by the board of trustees, in conjunction with Civil Protection and the Mérida City Council, in which they detected that most of these properties are private, so the municipal authorities see the restoration work hampered.
“It is definitely very important that property owners repair their facades. Because there is a danger of collapse as in the case of the Ateneo de Mérida ”, stated the president of the Board.
The interviewee assured that the municipal administration has a program for the rehabilitation of properties and facades, through which it approaches the owners to offer alternatives for joint intervention, in which the owner pays for the necessary material, and the city provides the hand labor.
However, Ancona Teigell reiterated that those who own these historic buildings in poor condition are the main responsible and they must seek the authorities, with the aim of preventing progress in the deterioration of the historic center of the Yucatecan capital, which is considered the second largest in the country, after Mexico City.
Similarly, the president of the aforementioned citizen body expressed that the work of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has been misrepresented in terms of the protection of these properties, since the action of this agency is not intended to hinder or increase restoration costs, but guarantees the prevalence of the original architecture, of a property considered historical.
In that sense, Ancona Teigell said that the Trust for the Preservation of the Historic Center of Mérida has the knowledge and experience to guide the owners of these properties, who are interested in making adjustments, to present a suitable project to the INAH.
Finally, the president of the Board said that, although “several million pesos” have already been allocated to the transformation of the Historic Center of Mérida, there is still “much to do in the historic center of Merida”.
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