Emperor Maximilian Memorial Chapel

[1] Initially, the site was only marked with makeshift piles of stone topped by crosses made of sticks.

In 1886 during the regime of President Porfirio Díaz, a liberal general who had fought against the French invasion, the first monument was constructed on the site.

Commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I in memory of his late brother[2] and designed by architect Maximiliano Mitzel, the chapel was dedicated on 10 April 1901.

[2] The altar and altarpiece were made at the Querétaro School of Arts and Crafts, and the cross on the altar is taken from the Austrian frigate SMS Novara, which had brought Maximilian and his wife Empress Carlota to Mexico, and which later transported Maximilian's remains back to Austria.

In January 2017, the Querétaro municipal government announced it would invest nearly 1 million pesos for the restoration and maintenance of the chapel.