From Frida and Diego to tunes and tombs, Guanajuato has many treasures

The city of Guanajuato, is a city like no other I have ever known.

In 1548, a prospector discovered silver in the mountains surrounding what today is the capital of the state by the same name. By the mid-1700s, Guanajuato had become the wealthiest city in Mexico. The owner of the La Valenciana mine paved the path from his house to the nearby church with gold so that his daughter would not have to touch the soil on her way to be married.

Built in a narrow valley between the mountains that made it rich, Guanajuato offers the visitor a beautiful example of the art and architecture of the age of the Spanish viceroys and plenty of history, culture and gastronomy.

One imposing edifice is the Alhondiga de Granaditas, which played a key role during Mexico’s war for independence from Spain.

Spanish forces had turned the former grain storage into a fort. In 1810, it is said, a group of revolutionaries led by a worker from the mines nicknamed “El Pipila” stormed the fort. From the safety of this nearly impenetrable building, the soldiers shot and hurled fire and rocks on the mob trying to enter, so “El Pipila” strapped a large slab of rock to his back to shield himself and with a torch made his way to the fortress. He burned the door down and the intruders took the fort.

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