The state of Zacatecas is located in the north-western part of the central high plateau of Mexico. It is bounded by the states of Durango, Coahuila, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes and Jalisco. Zacatecas covers an area of 28,125 sq. miles, or 72,844 sq. kilometers.
Cities and Places of Interest in Zacatecas
Zacatecas
City of Zacatecas
The state capital and largest city has grown up around rich silver-mining operations, although the other minerals are also extracted from the area including gold, mercury, copper and iron ore. Another important economic activity of the state is the raising of cattle on its outlying ranches.
Its indigenous peoples are fine artists and craftsmen; their wares include embroidered textiles, leatherwork, carved wood and jewellry made with semiprecious stones.
The state capital, the City of Zacatecas…
Guadalupe
Guadalupe is almost part of the city of Zacatecas and an easy sidetrip from the city via cab or bus. Of note here are the Franciscan convent and church with its 19 C. Capilla de Napoles (Naples Chapel), a highly gilded construction in the shape of a cross. It also houses the Viceroyalty Museum of Guadalupe exhibiting art of the colonial era. Next to the convent is the Museo Regional de Historia (Regional History Museum), exhibiting a number of period carriages and antique cars from all over the country. Guadalupe also boasts a Silversmith school, the Centro Platero de Zacatecas, with a number of silver workshops in operation.
Jerez
A quaint colonial town just over 50 kms south of Zacatecas and at an altitude of some 2,000 meters (7,800 ft), Jerez makes for a pleasant sidetrip from the city. The town was founded at the middle of the 16th C. and some of the buildings of note in the community are the Santuario de Soledad, built in 1805 and dedicated to the town’s patron saint, the Teatro Hinojosa (Hinojosa Theatre), and the intricate mudéjar-style Edificio de la Torre. Also in Jerez is found the birth-house and museum of Ramon Lopez Velarde, one of Mexico’s fine bards. The Jerez region is a rich fruit-growing area producing peaches, applies, plums, apricots and a number of varieties of tunas, or prickly pear cactus fruit.
La Quemada Ruins
50 kms to the south-east of Zacatecas City is the La Quemada archaeological site and museum. This highly fortified, terraced and hilltop site was built on an important north-south trading route of the Mesoamericans. It is thought that the settlement reached its height about 900 – 1000 A.D. The on-site museum exhibits artifacts from the most important archaeological sites in the State of Zacatecas.
Fresnillo
63 kms. north of Zacatecas city is the smaller mining town of Fresnillo, founded in 1554, with a number of notable colonial structures and facilities such as the Museo de Mineria (Mining Museum), El Agora “Gonzalez Echeverria”, built in 1853 as a mining school, and the Parroquia de la Purificacion, dating from the 18th C.
Map of Zacatecas state
Originally posted 2009-08-04 15:43:53.
