Drought uncovers ancient church in Guanajuato

The Templo de la Virgen de los Dolores, whose construction dates back to the mid-19th century, survives as the only witness of a town that was flooded more than 40 years ago.

Published May 4, 2021 (sp)

A church in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato survives among the water and fish as the only witness of a town that was flooded more than 40 years ago and that now, as a result of the droughts affecting the country, has been uncovered once again.

It is the Templo de la Virgen de los Dolores, whose construction dates from the middle of the 19th century, although there are documentary sources that place its birth in the 18th century.

The Catholic precinct, which combines neoclassical and baroque styles, was the heart of the community of Zangarro, relevant since the viceregal era because there were located the offices of the civil registry and the vicarage of the then known as Villa Real de Mina de Guanajuato.

“It was a busy place, the parish, because there was the civil registry and the vicarage, had permission to perform such procedures, so it was a very important place,” explained Monday in an interview with Efe Dulce Maria Vazquez, director of the Municipal Archives of the city of Irapuato, located 25 kilometers from the temple.

However, the history of the community would come to an end with a presidential decree signed in 1979 by the then president of Mexico, José López Portillo.

The president ordered the construction of a dam, today known as La Purísima Dam, on the 1,200 hectares that the town encompassed.

This was because six years earlier, on Saturday, August 18, Irapuato was completely flooded after the El Conejo dam overflowed its banks.

“The oral history tells that it was very difficult for them to leave the place, more than because of the buildings, because of the sense of belonging to the place. (…) A few resisted until they saw that it was already a reality that the water would come to cover the entire town,” says Dulce Vázquez.

Thus, the inhabitants of Zangarro had to be relocated to nearby lands, and re-founded their community preserving the same name.

However, despite the passing of the years and the flooding, the Temple of the Virgin of Dolores survives and is today an attraction that attracts visitors and the curious who seek to photograph the vestige.

“Things have been found, although it is already very looted, imagine, we are talking about since 1979 until today it has been quite a long time, however, there is no need to say I found a gold medal, such things floated, etc.,” said the director of the Municipal Archives.

In hot and dry seasons, the water levels drop so low that the church can be accessed without having to board one of the small boats that roam the dam, and with luck, even find small vestiges of the town.