Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores

The Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de los Dolores was built between 1778 and 1806 in the town then known simply as Dolores, in a restrained neoclassical style with twin bell towers flanking a pale stone facade facing the main plaza. Before dawn on September 16, 1810, parish priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells to summon the townspeople, then delivered the speech known as the Grito de Dolores, calling for revolt against Spanish colonial rule and effectively launching the Mexican War of Independence. The building's interior follows a single-nave neoclassical plan with a coffered vault and a main altarpiece rebuilt in a Neoclassical style after later alterations replaced the original Baroque retablos. The town itself was later renamed Dolores Hidalgo in the priest's honor, and the church bell that Hidalgo rang was removed and now hangs above the National Palace in Mexico City, from where the president rings a replica each September 15 to reenact the Grito. The church facade and plaza remain the ceremonial center of Mexican independence commemorations, and the building's preservation has focused on maintaining the original 18th-century stonework and the plaza setting where Hidalgo addressed the crowd, rather than altering it into a museum space. As an active parish church, it continues to hold regular Mass alongside its role as a national historic monument.