August 2005 is a month of transcendental importance in the commemoration of Latin American independence. Two hundred years ago, in August 1805, two Venezuelans played a leading role in a couple of isolated events, which would start a process that ended in the independence of the region after two decades. In Rome, a young Simón Bolívar only 21 years old, made an oath in Monte Sacro to devote his life to his country's independence, starting a struggle that would end with his death. In Coro, Venezuela, Francisco de Miranda tried a failed disembarking, which was intended to cause a rebellion against Spanish authorities. These two events became the genesis of a long struggle of particular heroism, that resulted in the arising of many independent republics in South America.

Simón Bolívar		Francisco de Miranda

London was destined to play a fundamental role in the fight for Latin American independence. The house known as "Casa Miranda", where Francisco de Miranda lived for long years, was to become a focal point of the Hispano-American revolutionary aspirations. Between August 2005 and August 2006, Venezuela will celebrate the "Miranda Year", dedicated to honour the epic achievements of this hero. The "Miranda House" located at 58 Grafton Way is currently a museum that belongs to the Embassy's premises in London and it will have a starring role in the celebration of the "Miranda Year".

We will like present to you a brief essay that tells the story of the Miranda House and all the events that took place there, as well as some photographs of this historical landmark.

My house in the city is and always will be a fixed point for the independence and liberties of the Colombian Continent.

Francisco de Miranda
27 Grafton Street, London 1810

Francisco de Miranda, rightly called 'The Precursor', was the first criollo to make a mark on world history. He was born in Caracas in 1750, a man of the Enlightenment, an enthusiast for the new political principles of the time, insatiably curious, and an inspiration for others. He had a vision of independence for Spanish America that he pursued with great flair and determination. He travelled in North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Turkey and all the countries of Europe. He was present and active in the North American colonies' declaration of independence from Britain and the revolution in France as General of the French Armies as well as in the emancipation of the provinces of the Spanish Empire.

He settled in London in 1802, at what was then 27 Grafton Street (now 58 Grafton Way), a house that had been built by the office of Robert and James Adams in 1793. It was here, with his companion Sarah Andrews and their two sons, Leandro and Francisco, who were born soon after, that he established his headquarters. It was on the upper floors of the house that he was at last able to arrange the 6000 volumes that he had gathered on his travels into a library, from which he lent to friends and acquaintances in the city. These included his own personal archive, 63 volumes under the general title of 'Colombeia', all that concerns Colombia, the name he had given in honour of Columbus to the new world for which he was working.

It was to number 27 that Simón Bolívar and Andrés Bello, the two other great Venezuelans of their time, still only in their late twenties, came on a visit to London in August and September 1810. They were the first diplomats to come from any of the newly declared states in Spanish America, and had been sent by the Junta Patriótica in Caracas to gain recognition and support for Venezuela alone from the British government. Miranda persuaded them that they had to broaden their vision and think in continental terms. 'Our cause', Miranda insisted to them, 'has in this country innumerable friends and it is impossible not to have them where reason and justice have followers. We are committed in the presence of the Universe, and we cannot, without discredit, deviate at all from the glorious path that we have traced for America'.

Andrés Bello

It was from number 27 that the Masonic lodge that called itself 'Gran Reunión Americana' agreed 'never to acknowledge as the legitimate government of your country one that has not been elected by the free and spontaneous will of the people.'. It was from this house also that Luis López Méndez set about surreptitiously recruiting English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish legionnaires to fight the Spanish. It was at number 27 that other subsequently famous Latin American revolutiary figures, Bernardo de O'Higgins, José de San Martín, Antonio Nariño, and Carlos María de Alvear, among others, felt obliged to call. And 'number 27' was the address that the first diplomats in Europe from the new Spanish America gave to the Foreign Office in London.

Miranda left London in 1810 to help consolidate the First Republic of Venezuela. He was captured there by the Spanish authorities in 1812, and did not see his house or family again; he was brought back to Spain and died in the the prison of La Carraca in Cadiz in 1816. Sarah Andrews lived on in number 27 until her own death in 1847. What is now number 58 Grafton Way then passed to other hands.

In 1942, the British Council recognised its historical importance with a plaque. In 1978, in the first presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez, the Venezuelan government acquired the property as part of the country's heritage, together with four adjacent houses that had been built at the same time. It was then that it also became a listed historical building in London. Number 52 is now an embassy's flats building. Number 54, Carabobo, is the office of the Military Attaché. Number 56, named after Andrés Bello, who lived and worked in London after Miranda left for another nineteen years, houses the Venezuelan Consular Section. Number 58 is the Miranda House itself, and contains the Embassy's cultural office and library. The four houses were renovated and on the advice of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Miranda House itself was meticulously restored by British architect Boyd Auger to be as close as possible in appearance to the original. An auditorium, able to seat 140 or serve as a gallery or cinema, as occasion demands, was subsequently built in the space behind the houses. This is the Bolívar Hall, the centre of the Miranda House Cultural Centre. It is a perfect venue for performances and exhibitions by artists from Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America and thereby embodies Miranda's hope for a continuing connection with Britain. From the entrance to the hall, it is possible, at the corner of Fitzroy Square, to see a statue of Miranda himself.

Written by Verónica Valarino