Exploring Abandoned Places in Jura: Discovering the Old Mexican Dance Hall

2023-07-13 08:04:00

The canton of Jura has several abandoned places, in search of a new life. This is the subject of our series of reports of the week: we discover buildings with a strong historical and cultural heritage, which seek to reinvent themselves and are the subject of conservation measures. This Thursday, direction Delémont, where we explore an old dance hall.

The Sunday outing

The Mexico restaurant, formerly the Vorbourg café, was born in the second half of the 19th century. On the same land, a kind of barn is erected, to become a dance hall. Thus, from the 1860s, the Delémontains met to exchange a few dance steps, enjoy the music and meet – who knows – their soul mate. In the 1950s, dance halls were popular in the region: “We didn’t have much else to do, to have fun! So we came to dance the waltz or the tango,” says Myriam Rais. Sunday dresses for girls, ties for boys; we were smart. “And if we refused to dance with a guy, we would wallow in the rest of the evening! “recalls Myriam Rais.

A memory of the old quarter

The dance hall of Mexico closed its doors for good in 1992. Today, the wood has aged, and the building must be renovated. Discussions were held between the Township and the owner of the building, a real estate company. The latter agreed to undertake work, to give a facelift to the old dance hall (note: the building is protected locally, by Delémont): “It is very important for us to keep such a building”, says Lucie Hubleur, conservator of monuments in the canton of Jura. “A dance hall is reminiscent of a whole era. But it is also important to preserve testimonies of ancient Mexico. The neighborhood has changed enormously. (…) It is an emblematic place because it is through here that you go up to the Vorbourg… For us, in the section of historical monuments, it is important to give care and research to what we could do here,” she adds. On this subject, nothing has been decided for the moment: the future of the old Mexican dance hall remains to be invented. /cto

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