Zacatecas

I visited this WHS in January 2022. As my 550th visited WHS, it will always have a special place in my memories, but my experience was further enhanced by meeting up with Zacatecas' director at the UNESCO World Heritage Regional Institute who was directly involved in Zacatecas' nomination and inscription on the WH list and is now mainly managing awareness-raising efforts at schools on UNESCO WHS and collaborating with Caribbean and Latin American states to promote existing WHS and add other tentative ones.

Just like Guanajuato, Zacatecas owes its historic monuments to the wealth generated by its silver and gold mines. It is also situated in a valley but not as narrow as in Guanajuato, and there is the Cerro de la Bufa's cableway which is an easy way to have a panoramic view over the city. For those that are not good with heights, be aware that the ride takes around eight minutes and one of the cablecars has a glass bottom too! From here the main tourist attraction, apart from the view, is the underground train tour inside the El Eden mine and the many bronze statues honoring important figures from the Battle of Zacatecas. Zacatecas is at an altitude of almost 2500 metres so exploring its many churches and sites was slightly more strenuous than other colonial cities and extremely cold in the morning (a bit like in Cusco, Peru).

The city cathedral at the heart of the historic centre is one of the best …

The Historic Centre of Zacatecas was a delight, and the highlight of my November trip through central Mexico. Zacatecas takes a bit of planning to reach, but it was well worth the six hour detour from the cluster of World Heritage Sites near Querétaro.

Silver mines put Zacatecas on the map, and funded the rich Baroque architecture seen in the stunning cathedral, as well the Temple of Santo Domingo and the Governor's Palace in the Plaza de Armas. Early in its history, the mines also brought missionaries traveling along the Camino Real, such as the Franciscans, who founded the former San Francisco convent (site of one of two World Heritage Site plaques I found in the historic center), and the Augustinians, who founded the Temple of San Agustin. On my one day in Zacatecas, I spent a couple early hours visiting the churches that were open and admiring the architecture, and then strolling the relatively quiet streets (likely because it was Revolution Day, one of Mexico's public holidays). The neo-classical facade of the Calderon theater was beautiful, and the small plazas scattered around the city were a peaceful way to start the day.

I had two sites I definitely wanted to see when I was in Zacatecas. The first was the overlook from La Bufa, the imposing bluff overlooking the city. La Bufa played a significant role in 1914 during the Mexican Revolution, as Pancho Villa successfully wrested the hill from federal troops before taking the city of …

Zacatecas is beautiful. It feels as if you are in a Europe. Italy maybe? Absolutely wonderful. You can really feel the positive energy in the air. There is something about this city that makes you not want to leave.I think it's because there is a certain intimacy you feel with city.

As a “colonial” centro historico Zacatecas has a number of similarities with Guanajuato – particularly its setting in a deep(ish) valley and its wealth from Silver. We visited it first and were quite impressed – until we saw Guanajauto! Michelin has it about right when it grants Guanajuato *** (worth a journey) and Zacatecas ** (worth a detour).

With a population of about 130000 it is significantly larger then Guanajuato. Its valley is less confined and it has spread more with a surrounding and unattractive suburban area but the centre is pleasant and relaxed – albeit not traffic free. The city lies at an altitude of 8000ft – which you will feel if you do much walking! The cathedral (photo 1) is perhaps the only building which trumps Guanajuato’s offering with its magnificent “pinkish” façade - its floodlit appearance at night is particularly fine (photo 2). Beyond that there is the usual range of “niche” museums (covering, inter alia, Surrealist Art and Indigenous Masks), pleasant gardens, squares, colonial streets, mansions etc. We didn’t take the teleferico which, unlike Guanjuato’s funicular, actually crosses over the city from one side to the other – but then Zacatecas has no viewpoint quite like Pipila. An interesting “non-UNESCO” visit is to the Quinta Real Hotel built around Zacatecas’s bull ring – the (expensive for Mexico but not so much in European terms) restaurant is built into the seating tiers. It is at least worth going into.