Angangueo is located in the far northeast of the state of Michoacan. It is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra de Angangueo. It is very mountainous terrain with an average altitude of 2,580 m.

The region is mostly covered in forests of conifers with pines, as well as mixed forests of conifers such as cedar with broad-leafed trees. Two rivers pass through, the Puerco and the Carrillos along with several arroyos.

Wildlife includes weasels, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, deer, and various birds. Much of the municipality is part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which contains a major colony of butterflies each winter.

Situated at an altitude of approximately 2,700 m above sea level, Angangueo has a spring-like climate all year round. Some areas in this region receive rain only in the summer and others all year round.

Due to the elevation, summers are mild, with daytime temperatures averaging around 21-24°C, making it a pleasant escape from the heat. However, nights can be quite chilly, so be sure to pack some warm clothing.

Winters are colder, with temperatures dropping to around 0-5°C at night.

In winter the monarch butterflies arrive, seeking the temperate conditions of Angangueo’s forests. If you plan to visit during this time to witness the butterfly migration, prepare for cold weather and possible rain.

The best time to visit Angangueo

The best time to visit Angangueo largely depends on your interests. If you’re a butterfly enthusiast, then winter, particularly from late November to early March, is the prime time to witness the monarch butterfly migration.

For those who prefer milder weather and outdoor activities like hiking and exploring picturesque landscapes, the spring and early summer months are perfect. The weather is pleasantly cool, and the forests are in full bloom.

The word “Angangueo” of Purépecha origin translates as “town between mountains”, “at the entrance of the cave”, “very high thing” or ” in the forest”. But there is no unanimity agreement as to the origin of the name.

The town is officially called Mineral de Angangueo to distinguish it from the rest of the municipality of Angangueo.

When Nuño de Guzmán arrived in the area in 1550, he described it as a “no-man’s land” with no indication of the riches that were underneath the mountains and forests here.

The lands were awarded to Gonzalo de Salazar by viceroy Antonio de Mendoza as part of a larger area encompassing Zitácuaro and Taximaroa shortly thereafter.

Some mining and settlement began in the mid-16th century, but it remained relatively unpopulated until the very late 18th century when large deposits of minerals were discovered on what is now called the former hacienda of Angangueo.

These minerals included gold, silver, copper, and more, and brought a rush of people into the area.

The town of Angangueo was officially founded in 1792 and it became a municipality in 1831. During the struggle between Conservative and Liberal forces in Mexico in the 19th century, possession of the town changed hands.

In 1865, General Régules took the town plaza for Conservative forces but Liberal forces retook the town the following year.

The Temple of the Immaculate Conception was begun in 1882.

In the middle of the 19th century, mining rights were assigned to an English company. In the 20th century, it was then conceded to the U.S. company American Smelting and Refining Company, the last foreign concern to have mining rights.

In 1953, an accident in the Dolores Mine claimed twenty-five miners and the federal government expropriated the area.

It was then managed by the Impulsora Minera de Angangueo, which continued mining here until 1991 when it was decided that the exploitation of the mines was no longer economically feasible.

From then to the present, there have been disputes between the shareholders in the Impulsora and former miners and the state of Michoacan over the right to continue mining. The mines are considered to be part of the butterfly reserve.

In the mid-20th century, the town had a population of 10,000, its own newspaper, and even a mint.

However, it has steadily declined since then as the mines gave out.

The town gained a new source of income with tourism with the establishment of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and the promotion of the butterfly colonies located very near the town by magazines such as National Geographic and Mexico Desconocido, beginning in 1980.

This has promoted the opening of hotels and restaurants near the butterfly sites, and small transport services thereto. However, this has not brought the town back to its former size.

On 5 February 2010, heavy rains and hail caused flooding and mudslides in the region, with Angangueo being hard hit. Landslides on two of the hills surrounding the town buried sections and blocked roads. Many houses built on the riverbanks were swept away.

The deforestation from legal and illegal logging contributed to the landslides. In addition, cleared areas on hillsides were used to build homes. As an alternative to mining, was suggested to develop tourism in Angangueo as a Pueblo Mágico.

Later the same year, federal authorities announced that no new residents could move into the town and that the current population would be relocated. The decision was made with the rationale that the landslides create too big a hazard for people to live in the current location and a “New Angangueo” would be built.

However, local residents were against the plan.

Efforts to relocate the town were officially begun in June 2010, with a projected 600 homes in a location called Barrio Sustentable Monarca. The construction was halted by September of the same year, with only a layout traced on the site and no new homes started.

Like most mining towns, Anguangueo has an irregular layout of its streets and blocks, which has remained the same since colonial times. There is one main road, which is called both Nacional and Morelos.

This road leads up the canyon and ends at the Plaza de la Constitución.

Most of the houses around the town are made of adobe with wood details and red tile roofs. There are also balconies that contain pots with flowers in the summer.

Like a number of other mining towns from the same epoch, there are a number of tunnels that connect buildings, like the one that connects the Casa Parker with the Inmaculada Concepción church.

The main plaza is flanked by two churches: the parish of San Simón and the Inmaculada Concepcíon.

The Inmaculada Concepción church was built by a single family, in pink stone in Gothic style to imitate in miniature the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The main altar was made of marble from Italy, with images of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary from Paris.

The tabernacle contains the “chalice of Angangueo,” an important example of Baroque silverwork.

The San Simon parish is smaller, built with blue-grey stone.

Other chapels include Santa Maria Gorita, Misericordia, and Jesus Nazareno.

The Monument to the Miner is located on a lookout over the town and the Señor del Rescate Chapel, which is now the site of municipal offices.

Cultural Centers & Museums

The Casa Parker was an old train station. In the mid-20th century, it became the home of Bill and Joyce Parker, an English/American couple.

Bill was the last mine administrator of the American Smelting and Refining Company before the mines were nationalized. The couple became part of the community and eventually, their house was preserved and made into a historical museum.

Another museum in the area is the El Molino.

If you’re staying in Angangueo and looking for interesting places to visit on a day trip, there are several nearby attractions worth exploring. Here’s a list of places of interest you can visit in a one-day excursion:

El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary: This sanctuary is one of the most famous monarch butterfly reserves in the area. Witness the incredible spectacle of millions of monarch butterflies during their winter migration.

Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary: Another great option to see monarch butterflies is the Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary. It offers a slightly different perspective on the migration and is equally impressive.

Piedra Herrada Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary: If you’re looking for a quieter experience with monarch butterflies, the Piedra Herrada Sanctuary is known for its serene atmosphere and beautiful landscapes.

El Mirador Lookout: Head to El Mirador, a viewpoint that offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and forests. It’s a great spot for taking photos and appreciating the natural beauty.

Tlalpujahua: This nearby town is famous for its Christmas ornament industry. You can explore workshops where artisans create intricate ornaments, and you might even find some unique souvenirs to take home.

Availability of some attractions may vary depending on the season and local conditions, so it’s a good idea to check in advance and plan your day trip accordingly. Enjoy your exploration of the Angangueo region!

Every year in February, the city hosts a Monarch Butterfly Festival to bid farewell to butterflies as they head north. The festival consists of artistic, and cultural events related to the traditions and customs of the region.

Other holidays and celebrations:

• Feasts of Santa Cruz on May 3
• 11 July is the Day of the Miners
• San Simon on October 28
• Immaculate Conception on December 8

From Zitacuaro

• From Zitacuaro in taxi to Agangueo (0:30 min)

From Mexico City to Agangueo

From Mexico City via Zitacuaro:

• Buses from Mexico City to Zitacuaro (2:45) run every 30 min.
• From Zitacuaro in taxi to Agangueo (0:30 min)

From Mexico City via San Jose de Rincon:

• Buses from Mexico City to San Jose de Rincon (3:25) run every 30 min.
• From Zitacuaro in taxi to Agangueo (0:25 min)

Driving in a car from Mexico City to Agangueo will take 2:20 hours

From Toluca

• Buses from Toluca to Zitacuaro (2:20 hours) run every 30 min.
• From Zitacuaro in taxi to Agangueo (0:30 min)
• Driving in a car from Toluca to Agangueo will take 1:40 hours

From Ciudad Hidalgo

• Buses from Ciudad Hidalgo to Tuxpan (0:20 min) run each 20 min.
• From Tuxpan in taxi to Agangueo (0:40 min)
• Taxi from Ciudad Hidalgo to Agangueo (0:40 min)

From other towns

• Driving in a car from Valle de Bravo to Agangueo will take 1:30 hours
• Driving in a car from Acambaro to Agangueo will take 1:30 hours

The city is located in a relatively flat valley surrounded by mountains.

These mountains are populated with pines, oyamels, holm oak, and other kinds of trees. The climate ranges from semi-moist and temperate to semi-moist and semi-with rains in the summer.

Average temperature ranges from 8 to 20C and between 1000 and 1500 mm per year.

The municipality is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, with the Sierra de Mil Cumbres.

Principle peaks include Del Fraile, Azul, San Andres, Ventero, Guangoche, and Blanco. Rivers include Agostitlan, Chaparro, Zarco, and Grande with dams called Sabaneta, Pucuato, and Mata de Pinos.

Fauna include coyotes, foxes, skunks, opossums, hares, rabbits, raccoons, armadillos, ducks, and other fowl. The Cerro San Andres is home to one of the colonies of monarch butterflies although it is not part of the Biosphere Reserve.

The original name of the settlement and the area was Taximaroa. The origin of this name is unclear. Some sources claim some variation of this had been the name since Toltec times, but this form is from the Purépecha language.

The meaning is similarly unclear. It may mean “altar of the gods put on the road” in reference to a place where the Purépecha defeated the Aztecs. Another source says it means “place of carpenters,” but the Aztec name for the place Tlaximaloyan, means this and was probably given due to its similarity with the Purépecha name.

Another source states that the name means “place of traitors”. This etymology stems from Conquest.

Cristobal de Olid was on his way west to Tzintzuntzan when a Purépecha army was heading east to intercept him. Olid, along with a number of Purépecha from this area, tricked the army into an ambush and captured them.

After the Conquest, the name changed to San José Taximaroa.

Near the end of the 18th century, a hacienda was acquired here by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. This later prompted the name of the municipality to change to Villa Hidalgo Taximaroa in 1908, and then again to Ciudad Hidalgo in 1922.

Formerly, its name was Taximaroa, and it was the part of the Purépecha Empire closest to the Aztec Empire. This prompted two unsuccessful Aztec invasions as well as the first Spanish incursion into Purépecha lands in 1522.

For both the city and rural communities around it, forestry and furniture making are important parts of the economy, but deforestation is forcing the area to look into alternatives such as tourism to take advantage of its natural resources and cultural sites.

The first people to concentrate in this area were the Otomi, who arrived between 2,000 and 1,500 years B.C.E. They called the area “Ouesehuarape” or “place where they cut wood.”

In 1401, the Purépecha conquered the area, making it the province closest to the Aztec Empire. In 1479, Axayacatl with 24,000 warriors attacked Taximaroa and burned the city.

They were later expelled by the Purépecha and the town was refounded. The Aztecs attacked again under Moctezuma II in 1495 but were defeated. A ceremonial center was then erected by the Purépecha to mark the defeat of the Aztecs.

In 1522, the Spanish under Cristóbal de Olid arrived here entering Purépecha lands. Olid took possession of the native settlement and had the first Mass celebrated in Purépecha territory here.

Before the arrival of Nuño de Guzmán in 1529, the locals decided to abandon the settlement of Taximaroa. The Franciscans arrived in the area in 1531 to evangelize the natives and reestablish the settlement, giving it the Spanish layout it has today.

In 1535, the settlement and the lands around it were granted to Gonzalo de Salazar as the Taximaroa encomienda by Hernán Cortés when he visited the area. Cortés also had a hospital built for the natives.

In 1591, it became a semi-autonomous “Indian Republic” and a seat for the region. Later that decade, the parish of San José was founded and the church/monastery complex began.

After Independence, in 1831, the area became the municipality of Taximaroa. The French under Coronel Clinchant attacked the town in 1864 and later the same year a group of Conservatives were shot in the church atrium.

During the Mexican Revolution, federal troops attacked the town, and in 1913, rebel general Alfredo Elizondo passed through. In 1914, a battle called the Sabaeta Action (La Acción de Sabaneta) took place in which troops under Venustiano Carranza triumphed.

After the Revolution, the settlement gained city status, changing its name to Ciudad Hidalgo. In 1928 and 1929, confrontations related to the Cristero War took place.

Like much of the rest of the state of Michoacán, problems related to drug trafficking have stood out in the city’s recent history.

In 2010, the mayor of the city Jose Luis Avila Franco was arrested by federal authorities, along with a number of other mayors in the state with suspected ties to drug traffickers but later a court ruled the evidence insufficient.

In the same year, the chief of municipal police was murdered along with a deputy with a note left behind indicating it was the work of drug traffickers.

Today, the city has mostly modern construction and streets, as one of Michoacán’s ten principal municipalities.

However, it retains some of its rural character, especially economically. The city holds an annual fair dedicated to preserved fruits and vegetables during Holy Week, featuring homemade preserves of fruits and vegetables.

Foods of this type have been made in this area since the beginning of the 20th century.

The city is also host to the largest furniture exposition in Michoacán, the Expo Mueble, and the Expo Feria de Todos los Santos is related to the Day of the Dead and All Saints Day.

Its principal monument is a 16th-century church with a former monastery. It conserves its atrium and original monolithic atrium cross sculpted by indigenous hands. This cross rests on a pyramidical base with a skull and bones.

It also contains the coat of arms of the Franciscan order.

The pyramidical base and skulls display an indigenous influence, as does the obsidian mirror located on the cross itself which was the symbol of the god Tezcatlipoca (god with the sacrificed foot) who was worshiped by both the Aztecs and the Purépecha.

The church contains two notable baptismal fonts. The larger one may have been the basin of a pre-Hispanic public fountain from the 16th century. It is decorated with small angels and stylized lions.

There are also letters on the rim of the font, but they do not spell out words. Tradition says they were used to teach literacy. The smaller font is monolithic and contains the image of a small nude angel in Renaissance style but with some medieval aspects.

One other important church is the Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro (Our Lady of Perpetual Succour).

It is located just outside the urban center. The work was inaugurated in 1977 and takes on a red color from the brick used in its construction. It is a modern construction with geometric lines.

The Casa de la Cultura (Cultural Center) of the city offers classes in dance, flower arranging, painting, textiles, computers, music, and more for adults and children.

Just outside the city proper there are caves called the Grutas de Tziranda (tziranda means paper in Purépecha).

These caves run for about 300 meters with thousands of formations in calcite, coral, calcium carbonate, and plant fossils. Within the caves, about twenty species of bats reproduce. The caverns are illuminated and have speakers playing music for visitors.

The Los Azufres Park is known for its thermal waters heated by an inactive volcano. The site extends over 1319,15 sq km with an altitude that varies between 2950 and 3200 masl, near San Pedro Jácuaro.

The springs have been attributed with medical powers since the pre-Hispanic period.

A number of spas have been established in the area such as Laguna Larga, San Alejo, Doña Celia, Campamento Turístical Los Azufres, Tejamaniles, and Eréndira. The tranquil waters of Laguna Larga reflect the green of the trees around them.

Laguna Verde is colored by the sulfur it contains. In a number of places, there are craters where mud boils.

In Laguna Los Azufres the water is very hot and contains a large quantity of dissolved minerals including sulfur. There are also geysers and freshwater springs. It is not a national park but SEMARNAT has a project to declare it a protected area.

Problems with the area include deforestation and trash. The geothermic energy of the area is used to generate electricity. There are various hotels, spas, and other businesses which offer activities such as camping, cycling, rowing, swimming, and hiking.

The historic center of Cotija, paved with pink quarry stone, reflects traditional aesthetics.

Efforts by various municipal governments and civil societies have preserved the colonial ambiance through architectural lighting, the maintenance of squares, and gardens, and underground electrification.

Main Plaza (Zócalo): The central plaza is a hub of activity and a great place to soak in the local culture. You can relax on benches, enjoy the shade of trees, and observe daily life as it unfolds.

Parroquia de San José: The town’s main church, Parroquia de San José, is a prominent landmark known for its colonial architecture and ornate details. It’s a great place to appreciate the religious and architectural heritage of the region.

Parish of Our Lady of Popolo: The construction of the Parish of Our Lady of Popolo n began in 1854. The parish is a grand edifice blending Baroque and Neoclassical styles. The tower of the parish holds five bells.

Constructed primarily of rock with hand-carved pink quarry stone moldings, the building features a towering 70-meter-tall tower, crafted entirely from pink quarry stone, housing a bell tower on its first level.

The standout feature of the parish is its dome, suspended solely on columns, crafted from black/brown quarry stone, and adorned with stained glass windows depicting religious motifs, reminiscent of the style found in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

The underground tunnels: Legend holds that beneath the parish lie tunnels initially built as drainage. These tunnels were purportedly used to shelter the Catholic faithful during the Cristero War, connecting with other tunnels beneath the city center and main streets.

Access to these tunnels is believed to be beneath the parish’s baptismal font. Additionally, it’s speculated that the tunnels served as hiding places for gold and valuables from invaders.

Local Museum: Cotija has a museum where you can find artifacts and objects organized chronologically, from archaeological finds dating from pre-Columbian times, the golden age of Cotija, and the modern era.

Religious centers in Cotija de la Paz

• Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Popolo
• Templo San José
• Templo San Felipe
• Santuario de la Asunción
• Santuario Guadalupano
• Santuario Virgen Del Barrio
• Templo La Rinconada
• Templo San Rafael Guízar
• Templo Sagrado Corazón
• Salón del Reino de los Testigos de Jehová
• Iglesia Cristiana
• Iglesia Luz Del Mundo
• Iglesia Monseñor Guízar y Valencia

Noteworthy is the colonial-era house of Rafael Guízar y Valencia, adding to the rich historical tapestry of the city.

Cultural Events: Depending on the time of year, you might have the chance to experience local festivals and events. These celebrations often involve traditional music, dance, and food, providing a glimpse into the area’s cultural traditions.

Exploring the Countryside: The surrounding countryside offers opportunities for outdoor activities like hiking, horseback riding, and birdwatching. The scenic landscapes make for a peaceful and enjoyable experience.

Cotija de la Paz is a town with a population of Spanish, Italian, and Southern French descent.

Cotija de la Paz has a rich historical background that dates back to pre-Hispanic times when it was inhabited by indigenous groups. The town gained significance during the colonial period as a mission center established by the Spanish.

Over the years, it became an important agricultural and trade hub.

Its Spanish founders came from Andalusia and Galicia, while those of French origin came from an area near Spain, occupied by the departments of Aveyron, Tarn, Perigord, Dordogne, and Eastern Pyrenees.

There are different versions regarding the exact date of the town’s foundation.

However, the priest José Romero Vargas dedicated several years of his life to historical research on his hometown. After several years of investigation, he determined that this was the most likely and truthful version of Cotija’s founding:

During the early years of Spanish rule, it was part of the encomienda of Tarecuato-Tepehuacán. In the last quarter of the 16th century, the viceroy authorized Spanish families to settle in the valley, forming a congregation within the jurisdiction of Tingüindín.

Between 1575 and 1576, at the site known as Cotixa, and very close to a clear stream later called El Río Claro, Don Melchor Manzo de Corona established his dwelling. With him also came his wife, Doña Juana Pérez, their children Melchor and Leonor, and some indigenous people, such as Juan Alonso, born in Tacatzcuaro.

From 1581 to 1595, eleven other Spanish settlers established themselves around this settlement. Some built their homes and persevered mainly in cattle farming. Over the years, attracted by the good climate and beauty of the area, other Spanish families settled.

By then, it was known as El Rincón de Cotixa, and Don Melchor Manzo’s estate was considered the head or center of the others. For this reason, a primitive chapel to Our Lady of Pópolo was built there, and a market was held on Sundays.

Even before 1730, the chapel of El Rincón de Cotija had a resident priest, but baptisms, weddings, and burials were not allowed, and it was necessary to go to the parish headquarters in Tinguidin.

It was not until November 1740 that this situation was remedied when the Bishop of Michoacán, Fr. Marcos Ramírez del Prado, decreed that the chapel and courtyard of El Rincón de Cotija be given ecclesiastical burial.

Between August 2 and 5, 1759, when it was decreed that from that date, El Rincón de Cotixa and Llano de Titiacoro would be forever united under a single name, with the official category of The Congregation of Cotija.

In 1790, Cotija de la Paz was reclassified as a city.

Several Sephardic Jewish families settled in Cotija, maintaining their distinct identity and not intermarrying with the rest of the population. Most people married within their ethnic group, using Hebrew names for their children baptized under Christian rites.

On October 12, 1810, a detachment was formed to fight for Independence. On November 12 and 13, 1813, insurgent leaders attacked the royalist forces of Captain Miguel de la Mora. On March 20, 1918, the forces of Inés Chávez García looted and set fire to the city.

In December 1920, the forces of General Lázaro Cárdenas passed through the town. On December 27, 1939, the presidential resolution forming the Ejido of Cotija and its annexes was signed.

Cotija also participated in the Cristero War (1926 to 1929), which was led by General Jesús Degollado Guízar.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Cotija was characterized by a deep religiosity, expressed in various pious traditions and the flourishing of priestly and religious vocations, with this locality being the birthplace of six bishops within the Catholic Church.

• January 5 and 6 – Religious festivals in La Esperanza and Los Santos Reyes.
• 12th of January – Celebration of the Virgin in San Juanico.
• February 5th – Celebration in honor of San Felipe de Jesús.
• March, 19 – San José Festival.
• June 24 – Celebration of the Virgin of El Barrio.
• September 28-30 – Toast Fair.
• October 12 – Celebration of the discovery of America at the Guadalupano Sanctuary.
• November 22nd – Santa Cecilia Festival in the main square by local musicians.
• December 1-31 – Festivals in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Cheese Fair, and Festival of the Absent Son.

The town and municipality are located in the north of the state of Michoacán, in the Cuitzeo Depression, with only small hills such as the Manuna and Melón.

Its hydrography is centered on Lake Cuitzeo with some seasonal streams and thermal springs such as the San Agustín del Maíz. It is a large, very shallow lake fed by fresh water springs. It is home to over ninety pieces of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, and produces silversides, catfish and carp. In the winter swallows and ducks spend the winter here, migrating from Canada and the United States. The lake is in danger of disappearing.

That which is not lake is primarily grasslands with some opuntia, huisache (Acacia) and other arid plants. Wildlife includes coyotes, raccoons, armadillos, and fish. There are some stands of pine trees.

The climate is temperate with rains in the summer.
Average annual rainfall is 906.2 ml with temperatures varying between 10.2 and 27.5C.

The name derives from the Purépecha “cuiseo” which means place of water containers. The current spelling dates to the 16th century.

During the pre Hispanic period, the area was influenced by several cultures including those of Chupícuaro, Teotihuacán and Tula. By the end of that era, it was under the control of the Purépecha Empire.

At the beginning of the colonial period, in 1528, the area was assigned as an encomienda to Gonzalo López, but by 1547, it has become a semi-autonomous “Republic of Indians.” Evangelization was first carried out by the Augustinians under Francisco de Villafuerte and Miguel de Alvarado, who began construction of the Santa María Magdalena monastery in 1550. This is considered the founding of the modern town.

The 19th century is marked by political changes. In 1825, it was part of the “Departamento Norte” and in 1831, it became a municipality as part of the Puruándiro district. In 1861 it is officially named the seat of the current municipality with the name of Cuitzeo del Porvenir. Liberal forces took the town on April 7, 1865 during the Reform War. In 1870, Santa Ana Maya separated from Cuitzeo to form a new municipality.

The 20th century began with the town sacked during the Mexican Revolution by a band of highway robbers under Inés Chávez García. In 1919, Huandacareo separated to form a new municipality. In 1950, Copándaro did the same. Running water was installed in 1955 and electricity in 1964. In 1975, all of the facades of the town were renovated.

The town of Cuitzeo is located just over thirty km north of Morelia, on the north shore of Lake Cuitzeo. It is a quiet, rural town, with narrow streets and buildings of white facades with thatched or tile roofs. The streets are mostly traveled by people and pack animals and most of the ambient noise comes from birds in overhead trees, especially in the main plaza. Its main activities are agriculture, livestock, commerce and fishing with a population of 8,760 (2010) .

The main structure in the town is the former Santa María Magdalena monastery complex located to one side of the main plaza. The complex consists of a church, cloister, garden and open chapel. Its main attraction is its Plateresque facade, with carvings of Spanish royal arms, Christian symbolism, Augustinian insignia and indigenous imagery, reflecting that the monastery was one of the most sumptuous of its time. Its style is influenced that the church front at Acolman, but it is larger and more imposing. The design and carving of the façade is attributed to a Purépecha craftsman named Juan Metl, whose signature is found inscribed on an ornamental plaque beside the main entrance. It is the only example of this from early colonial Mexico. Another important aspect of the exterior is the open chapel, which is elaborately framed, located behind the portería of the monastery complex. It contains a well preserved 16th century fresco of the Last Judgment and a 17th-century mural of a crucified friar, which may be Antonio de Roa.

The monastery was founded by the Augustinians, with construction started in 1550 over the ruins of a former Purépecha temple to the sun god Curicaueri, using stone from the old building. The structure served as a headquarters for the order and a school.

In 1865, it was used as a military fort. In 1965, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia took control of the structure, and en 1974, a graphic arts museum ( Museo de la Estampa) was opened, renovating the refectory and other living quarters. The museum contains a permanent collection from over forty artists including Leopoldo Méndez and Alfredo Zalce. There are also halls and passageways dedicated to Purépecha archeology and religious items from the colonial era. The upper floor of the cloister contains the Sala Capitular, which houses the monastery library with over 1,100 volumes, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Another important structure is the former Franciscan hospital which dates from the 18th century, as well as the Santa Magdalena Church, the Concepción Church, the San Pablo Church, the Calvario Church and the Virgin of Guadalupe Sanctuary. These churches have sculptures and paintings that date from the colonial period as far back as the 16th century.

Important landmarks include the Tres Cerritos archeological sites where burial chambers for adults and children have been excavated. It was a ceremonial center which dates back to about 600 CE.

Another site is Manuna Hill, on the northwest shore.

A number of communities have important churches such as the Chapel of the Child Jesus in the community of Cuamio, the San Juan Bautista Church in Jeruco and the San Agustín Church in San Agustín del Pulque.

Traditional dishes include corundas, tamales, uchepos, esquites, along with silversides fish charales, from the lake prepared in various ways.
The most traditional drinks are pulque and atole.[

Major festivals include the feasts of the Virgin of the Conception in February and that of the patron saint of Mary Magdalene in July.

There is also a secular event commemorating the arrival of Spanish culture in October.

Other celebrations include the Fiesta del Buen Temporal in September and an annual festival as the Cerrito Temple in November.

…

• Jaracuaro
• Uranden
• Janitzio
• Pacanda
• Yunuen
• Tecuena

• Pátzcuaro
• Erongarícuaro
• Quiroga
• Tzintzuntzan
• Tocuaro
• Opongio
• Puacuaro
• Arocutin
• Ihuatzio
• Santa Fe La Laguna
• Cucuchuchu
• Uricho
• Napizaro
• Erongarícuaro

Lázaro Cárdenas experiences a tropical savanna climate, with warm to hot temperatures.

The average temperature ranges from 24°C to 30°C. The rainy season typically spans from June to October, with precipitation peaking in July and August. Be prepared for high humidity levels, particularly during the wet season.

Best Time to Visit

The ideal time to visit Lázaro Cárdenas is during the dry season (from November to May) when the weather is more predictable, with lower chances of rainfall, making it ideal for beach outings, sightseeing, and outdoor adventures.

This time is also the peak tourist season, so may be busier and more expensive.

For those seeking a quieter experience, visiting Lazaro Cardenas during the shoulder seasons of November to December or April to May can offer a good balance of favorable weather and fewer crowds. And less expensive.

In 1446, the province of Zacatula was a disputed region between the Purépecha and Mexica empires due to its mineral wealth and agricultural productivity. After the arrival of the Spaniards, this area became very desirable.

Hernán Cortés, learning of his wealth, sent Gonzalo de Umbria and a small party to explore the gold mines in Zacatula’s domain, which resulted in the return of the gold and two local leaders offering services to the Spanish crown.

Cortés subsequently commissioned Captain Juan Alvarez Chico to erect crosses along the route to Zacatula, which would signify Spanish possession of the coastal region.

In 1523, Juan Rodríguez de Villafuerte and Jimón Cuenca founded the “Villa de Concepción de Zacatula”, where, by order of Cortés, the first shipyard in Mexican lands was built in Barra de Zacatula.

This establishment became a key trading and maritime center, serving both for exploration of Mar del Sur and as a starting point for expeditions along the coast.

With Spanish colonization came the encomienda system, aimed at subjugating the indigenous population to labor and exploitation of the land. At the same time, Augustinian missionaries led by Fray Juan Bautista Moya established missions throughout the region, moving from Ajuchitlan to Acapulco.

In 1533, the Spanish crown founded Corregimientos and Alcaldías Mayores, and Zacatula became an important administrative center. However, overexploitation of resources, combined with disease and forced labor, led to a decline in the indigenous population, replaced by African slaves commissioned by the Spanish monarchs.

By 1567, the area around the mouth of the Balsas River became known as “La Orilla”. In 1797, Manuel Antonio Otero purchased the Hacienda La Orilla, significantly expanding its territory by the end of the 19th century.

A conflict over jurisdiction arose, resolved in 1901 by President Porfirio Díaz, who established the Balsas River as the boundary between Michoacán and Guerrero.

In 1906, the hacienda was sold to the Compañía de La Orilla, which began large-scale agriculture and livestock raising, attracting workers mainly from the Guerrero coast. The Mexican Revolution briefly interrupted the activities of the hacienda.

From 1928 to 1932, President Lázaro Cardenas attempted to pacify the region and grant land rights to local communities. Cárdenas signed a decree redistributing land from the La Orilla estate, culminating in its sale in 1937.

The city is served by the Lázaro Cárdenas Airport.

The port of Lázaro Cárdenas has both public and private terminals.

The reserve was designated in 1980 by President José López Portillo.

In the late 1980s, reserve management was delegated to the Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology. It was at this time assigned the category of “special biosphere reserve.”

In 1986, the area and boundaries of the zones were defined. In 2000, it received its name (Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca).

UNESCO declared the biosphere a World Heritage site in 2008 as a Natural Asset. Currently, the area is known for tourism, logging, mining, and farming. It has remained mostly rural, noted for the communities of Otomi and Mazahua.

Millions of butterflies travel south into Mexico, from Texas, and then follow the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains to the preserve. The butterflies congregate, clustering onto pine and oyamel trees.

To many, the trees appear orange and branches sag from the weight.

Come spring, these butterflies migrate across America, sometimes ending up in Eastern Canada. Over the time it takes them to make this journey, four generations of monarch butterflies are born and die.

The monarch butterfly’s migration patterns are altered by climate change. During migration, monarchs fly north once they are exposed to cooler temperatures. Dense congregations are thought to conserve heat.

If warmed by the sun, the butterflies take flight. the beating of their wings has been compared to the sound of light rain. The reserve is susceptible to lethal, freezing temperatures.

The reserve extends from the mountainous forests of eastern Michoacán to western Mexico State 100 km northwest of Mexico City.

The reserve in Michoacán contains the highest elevations in the state, including peaks that reach 2,700 masl (meters above sea level).

The climate is classified as being temperate and somewhat moist with a rainy season in the summer. The average maximum temperature is 22 °C (71 °F). Sub-climates exist in this area: cool and semi-moist, semi-cold and semi-moist, and cold and semi-moist.

The reserve is characterized by outcroppings of basalt forming fissures, faults, and cliffs in a northeast-southwest orientation. Rock formations have replaced older ones such as volcanic cones and old lava beds.

The soil is highly permeable, resulting in little surface water. There are some small ponds and arroyos. The forests of pine and oyamel fir trees provide microclimates that provide shelter when temperatures fall to freezing and/or there are winter rains.

This area is predominantly covered in forests. The composition of the forest varies with altitude:

• holm oak up to 2900 masl
• holm oak and pine between 1500 and 3000 masl
• oyamel fir between 2400 and 3600 masl

Below 2400 masl, there are small areas with junipers, cedars, and meadows.

Areas have been modified by agriculture and human settlements.

The wildlife in the area ranges from the sub-tropical to the sub-arctic including a number of species that are endemic only to this area.

These include white-tailed deer, coyotes, long-tailed weasels, grey foxes, rabbits, crows, turkey buzzards, horned owls, as well as various types of hummingbirds, reptiles, and amphibians.

There are fourteen major butterfly colonies located in these rugged forested mountains, which account for more than half of the colonies of the monarch butterfly’s eastern U.S./Canada population.

It is estimated that up to a billion individuals spend winter here in any given year. These colonies are dense, with between six and sixty million butterflies per hectare.

The reserve areas are found in the municipalities of Ocampo, Angangueo, Zitácuaro, and Contepec in Michoacán and Donato Guerra, Villa de Allende, and Temascalcingo in the State of Mexico. They are divided into five principal zones or nuclei.

Eight of the fourteen colonies are in the protected area. The colonies properly cover only 4.7 hectares, but the protected biosphere area covers 56,259 hectares.

Five colonies are open to visitors:

• Sierra Chincua in Michoacan
• El Rosario in Michoacan
• La Mesa in the State of Mexico
• Piedra Herrada in the State of Mexico
• El Capulin in the State of Mexico

There are other colonies near San José Villa de Allende and Ixtapan del Oro, but they are not actively promoted for tourism because of the risk of harm to these butterfly colonies.

El Rosario is the largest sanctuary in Michoacán, where the butterflies cover about 1,500 trees.

While the Biosphere still has problems with infrastructure, most notably with trash (especially around parking and merchant areas), a number of improvements have been recently made, most notably in the sanctuary of El Rosario.

These include well-defined footpaths with security patrols and stone/or concrete steps in steep places to help against erosion. Horsepaths were also eliminated for erosion reasons. Only two areas have significant installations.

In the Sierra Chincua, there is a research facility dedicated to the monarch butterfly and a nursery for reforestation efforts. At Cerro El Companario there are facilities for tourism.

Conservation efforts were first intended to protect the butterflies.

Research, conservation, and other efforts are now focused on preserving the habitat. The interests of residents, land owners, farmers, farmer cooperatives, and local communities have been taken into account regarding conservation but conflicting interests remain.

Even though the Mexican government designated the area as a biosphere reserve most of the area of the preserve is owned by 38 ejidos, seven indigenous communities, and 16 private holdings.

The survival of the species depends on a large number of habitats in Canada, the United States, and Mexico during its annual migration cycle. The three countries adopted a plan in 2008 for the conservation of the butterfly’s habitat through its migration routes.

Within the Biosphere in Mexico, the greatest threats to the butterfly habitat are deforestation, illegal logging, unorganized tourism, forest fires, and lack of cooperation among various authorities.

Most of these dangers come from the surrounding human settlements, which put pressure on the natural areas to provide agricultural space and forestry products such as fuel and wood for manufacturing furniture and other crafts.

The main human communities in the area are Contepec, Temascalcingo, Angangueo, Ocampo, San Felipe del Progreso, Zitácuaro, Villa de Allende, and Donato Guerra.

The closest urban center is Zitácuaro, whose growth has promoted the growth of the other, more rural settlements.

In spite of this, most of the area is still occupied by dispersed rural farming communities of Otomi and Mazahua peoples, especially in Mexico Stateside. Many of the protected hectares do not belong to the government directly, rather they are lands divided among 59 ejidos, thirteen indigenous communities, and 21 individual holdings.

Because of this and the fact that the reserve is divided by a state line, conservation efforts are complicated. Many communities in this region are very poor, with high illiteracy rates and childhood malnutrition, with scarce access to basic services.

In the past, mining provided much of the area’s jobs but mines have since been depleted, and most live on subsistence agriculture.

These communities also have a tradition of exploiting forest areas, mostly to obtain wood for furniture making and other crafts. High unemployment, especially for youth, also provokes migration out into other parts of Mexico and to the United States or Canada.

Most of the butterfly colony areas still host economic activities such as subsistence farming and livestock raising.

In some areas, such as Sierra Chincua, Cerro Pelon, and El Rosario, there are still problems with illegal logging to supply local fuel needs as well as raw materials for handicrafts.

El Rosario is named after the local ejido which belongs to about 10,000 “campesinos” or rural farmers. Many of these people make a living through farming and the sale of handicrafts and food to tourists.

Information about the butterflies is insufficient as it is not known the full extent of their wintering areas or the ecology of the area. Because of this, it is not known how large the reserve really needs to be for the preservation of the butterfly.

Conservation is mostly done through restrictions on the lands but the management of the reserve has not had direct participation by the communities affected by it.

Some public and private entities have worked with communities to develop incentives to conserve forests and take advantage of the tourism that the butterflies bring. However, success in this has been spotty.

Some communities are pushing back against the restrictions and demanding to be allowed to use more land for agriculture.

Since conservation efforts began, there has been progress. While infrastructure is still lacking, advances have been made in areas such as trash control and control of access to the protected areas.

One effort by the World Wildlife Fund has been the coordination of international biologists and ecologists to improve the design of the reserve.

A permanent monitoring system has been established to ensure the forests remain healthy and control clandestine logging and forest fires. On Mexico Stateside, the largest sanctuary is located between San José Villa de Allende and Ixtapan del Oro.

It is not actively promoted for tourism to keep damage to the area to a minimum.

During winter 2008-2009, there are plans to tag as many of the wintering butterflies as possible using very light self-stick tracers so as to not impede their flight. The purpose of this is to determine the butterfly’s exact migration route as they fly back north to the U.S. and Canada in the spring.

Butterfly counts coming in from the United States and Canada in recent years were relatively stable in the 2000s, with a dozen confirmed colonies as of the 2007-2008 winter. In general, the number of colonies varies between eight and twelve.

Five of the eight colonies are located in Michoacán but only two are open to the public: Sierra Chincua in Angangueo and El Rosario in Ocampo. Both receive visitors starting from November until March. They offer guided tours.

In the State of Mexico, La Mesa, and El Capulin are open to the public.

These reserves are visited by thousands of Mexican and international tourists, principally from the United States, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, and Japan. The best-known and most visited butterfly colony is El Rosario.

In February, Angangueo celebrates the Festival de la Mariposa Monarca. This festival began in 1992 to promote awareness of the butterfly habitat, take advantage of the ecotourism it offers and promote the culture and arts of the area.

The festival includes events related to food, music, dance, and exhibitions of arts, crafts, and more. Many of the surrounding communities participate including Aporo, Contepec, Hidalgo, Irimbo, Jungapeo, Maravatío, Ocampo, Senguio, Tuxpan, Tlalpujahua, and Zitácuaro.

In 2010, the festival included the participation of the Symphonic Orchestra of Michoacan, The Enrico Caruso Ensemble, and the showing of an exhibition called “Papaloapan” about the monarchs by visual artist Luis Moro, as well as dance and photography workshops.

These events took place at venues in Angangueo and other nearby communities. A new photographic exhibition has been assembled to highlight the connection between the migration and the people of Michoacán.

In January 2016 Google search devoted its Google Doodle to the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of the Butterflies.

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Morelia is situated in the central part of Mexico, in the region known as the Bajío. The city’s landscape is defined by its location in a valley surrounded by the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental mountain ranges.

Much of the municipality is in the Guayangareo Valley between two rivers: the El Grande and the El Chiquito. The Guayangareo River runs through the city, adding to its picturesque charm.

The region is known for its lush greenery and diverse flora and fauna.

Guayangareo means “large hill with a flat side”. The municipality’s territory is rugged and dominated by peaks such as Punhuato, El Zapote, and the Otzumatlán mountain range, with the highest peak being Quinceo with an altitude of 2,787 m.

The municipality belongs to the Lerma-Santiago River hydraulic region, with the main rivers being the El Grande and the El Chiquito. There are a number of streams including the Zarza and Pitaya.

The most important dam here is Cointzio, with other smaller ones being Umécuaro, Laja Caliente, and La Mintzita.

Vegetation outside the city varies based on altitude and the type of soil. Mountainous areas are mostly covered in conifers while lower and drier areas have trees such as mesquite. To the south of the city is the Lázaro Cárdenas Forest, which is an ecological reserve.

Animal life mostly consists of small mammals, with coyotes being the largest, birds of prey, and some reptiles.

Morelia lies at an altitude of about 1,920 m above sea level. The city has a subtropical highland climate with warm to hot days and cool nights all year round due to the high altitude.

• January: average monthly 16°C
• February: average monthly 17°C
• March: average monthly 19°C
• April average monthly 21°C
• May: average monthly 22°C
• June: average monthly 21°C
• July: average monthly 20°C
• August: average monthly 20°C
• September: average monthly 20°C
• October: average monthly 19°C
• November: average monthly 17°C
• December: average monthly 16°C

Most precipitation falls during the rainy season: from June to September.

The best time to visit Morelia is during the dry season, which falls between November and April. The weather is pleasant, and you can explore the city’s historic sites and natural beauty comfortably during this time.

Morelia was originally founded in 1541 as Nueva Ciudad de Mechuacan (“New City of Michoacán”).

Later, in the same year, it was renamed into Guayangareo.

In 1545, Guayangareo gained city status with the name of Valladolid.

In 1828, the newly created state of Michoacán changed the name of the city from Valladolid to Morelia, in honor of the national hero José María Morelos y Pavón, which is the official name the city retains today.

The name change also aimed to distance the city from its colonial past.

Human settlements in the Guayangareo Valley in which Morelia is located have been dated back as far as the 7th century. Artifacts found here have shown Teotihuacán culture’s influence on early cultures in this area.

In the 12th century, the Purépecha arrived in the valley. They dominated it politically for the rest of the pre-Hispanic period but did not build any major settlements here.

Between the 12th and the 15th centuries, Matlatzincas moved into the area with permission of the Purépechas, who were based around nearby Pátzcuaro Lake. The main Matlatzinca settlement was where Júarez Plaza in the city is today.

The Spanish pushed into the Guayangareo Valley between 1525 and 1526, headed by Gonzalo Gómez. In the 1530s, the area was evangelized by Franciscans such as Juan de San Miguel and Antonio de Lisboa.

What later became the city of Morelia was founded by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and a number of encomenderos in 1541, who first named it Nueva Ciudad de Mechuacan (“New City of Michoacán”).

The newly founded settlement grew quickly, prompting Vasco de Quiroga to go to Spain and procure for rival settlement Pátzcuaro the title of city and a seal, to prevent the “new city” from becoming the capital of Michoacán.

The action also required that the new settlement change its name to Guayangareo.

In 1545, Guayangareo gained city status with the name of Valladolid, after the hometown of Antonio de Mendoza. This was part of a power struggle between Antonio de Mendoza and Vasco de Quiroga over the province of Michoacán.

During Quiroga’s lifetime, he managed to keep political and ecclesiastical power in Pátzcuaro despite the viceroy’s and encomenderos’ objections. However, Quiroga died in 1565.

By 1580, both political and religious authority (Episcopal see) had been transferred to the city of Valladolid, moving the College of San Nicolás, which Vasco founded, and laying the groundwork for establishing a new cathedral for the province.

The 17th century saw growth for Valladolid, with the construction of the cathedral and aqueduct. The cathedral was begun in 1640 (finished in 1744) and the aqueduct in 1657.

During the 17th century, many of the city’s large churches and monasteries were established, such as the monasteries of San Francisco, San Agustin, El Carmen, and La Merced as well as the convents of Las Rosas, Las Monjas, and Capuchinas. Churches include La Compañía, San Juan and La Cruz.

But the most important structure built during this time period was the Cathedral. The location of this cathedral defined the composition and development of the city from then on.

At the end of the colonial period, Valladolid was a small city with about 20,000 inhabitants. It was also an educational center with four important schools such as the College of San Nicolás.

These schools would turn out scholars such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos y Pavón, who were sympathetic to the new republican ideas coming out of post-revolution France and the United States.

Demonstrations against Spanish rule had been occurring in the town in 1809, culminating in the Conspiracy of 1809. This plot was discovered, and the main conspirators were arrested and sent to other parts of New Spain, which helped to spread republican ideas.

One year later, after forming his army in Guanajuato state, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla arrived and took over the city, proclaiming the end of slavery in Mexico. The city was taken back by royalist forces soon after.

Morelos came here to try and dislodge the royalists but was defeated by Agustín de Iturbide. Another prominent figure in the war, Mariano Matamoros was shot by a firing squad on the city’s main square in 1814.

The city remained in the royalist’s hands until 1821, when Iturbide, who had switched sides, and Vicente Guerrero entered the city with the Trigarante Army.

In 1828, the newly created state of Michoacán changed the name of the city from Valladolid to Morelia, in honor of José María Morelos y Pavón, which is the official name it retains today.

Although its Purépecha name remains Uaianarhio and has had nicknames such as City of Pink (Cantera) Stone, the City of Open Doors, The Rose of the Winds, The Garden of New Spain, and religiously Morelia of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The city became a municipality in 1831.

The later 19th century was marked by struggles between liberal and conservative forces in Mexico.

During the Revolution of Ayutla, the city was taken by rebel forces under Epitacio Huerta and General García Pueblita but was taken back in 1855 by forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna. Rebels attacked Santa Anna’s troops again a year later.

French troops imposing imperial rule entered the city in 1863, with the republican forces moving the capital of Michoacán to Uruapan while conservative families in Morelia pledged support for emperor Maximilian I, who then visited the city.

In 1867, the city was taken by republican general Nicolás de Régules, and the capital of Michoacán returned to Morelia.

In 1869, during a rebellion against Benito Juárez’s government, General Epitacio Huerta attacked government positions in the city but was beaten back by forces under Mariano Escobedo.

The first factories were opened in the city between 1868 and 1870, along with the first telegraph line. The railroad followed in 1883, as well as street cars.

In 1910, celebrations were held for the centennial of Independence but tensions were high in the city due to the shortage of grain and the continuation of President Porfirio Diaz in power.

One year later, revolutionaries loyal to Francisco I. Madero was welcomed into the city.

In 1914, the capital was moved from Morelia to the city of Tacámbaro. The city was then taken by forces under General Sánchez in the same year, and by forces loyal to Francisco Villa in 1915.

In 1920, the Palace of the State Government was briefly taken over by farm workers and others from all over the state. Isaac Arriaga is assassinated here in 1921.

The city was attacked again by rebels calling themselves “Delahuertistas” in 1924. The fight mostly occurs in the main plaza with the city defended by General Lopez, Garcia, and Avila Camacho.

During the 1960s the street vendors were removed from the historic center of the city, and palm trees that lined Avenida Madero, the main east-west road, were cut down.

In 1966, there was a student revolt at the state university which was put down by the army.

The 1970s and 1980s are marked by construction including the Periferico bypass ring around the city.

During the 1980s, damage due to geographic faults, exacerbated by falling water tables from groundwater pumping was noticed. This problem is similar to problems faced by other cities on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt such as Querétaro and Mexico City.

In 1991, the city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its well-preserved colonial architecture.

In 2001, street vendors were moved again from the historic center to make the area more tourist-friendly. Traffic was rerouted from here as well with the construction of new bypasses.

In 2006 and 2007, many of the plazas and gardens in the historic center were remodeled.

In 2009, the Morelia metropolitan area was tentatively established as consisting of the municipalities of Zinapécuaro, Álvaro Obregón, Charo, Tarímbaro, and Morelia.

This initial determination was made by the Secretary of Urbanism and Environment, with further refinements to be made as the municipal presidents of these entities meet to discuss limits, strategies, and further actions.

One of these actions has been to establish a formal commission to administer the area.

The Mexican federal government lists 1,113 buildings built from the 16th to the 20th centuries as having historical value. The buildings encompass the various architectural styles that have been fashionable in Mexico.

Almost all these buildings are built of pink Cantera stone, which gives the city a unified appearance.

In 1956, the city enacted regulations to preserve the historic center’s colonial buildings.

In 1990, was issued a decree making the historic center of Morelia a national historic monument. In 1991, the same area was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which covers 200 of the area’s historic buildings.

Morelia, with its rich history and stunning architecture, offers a lot of points of interest. Here is a list of some of the prominent historic buildings, churches, cathedrals, parks, plazas, and other attractions in the city:

Historic Buildings:

• Palacio Clavijero – A beautiful colonial building now used for cultural and artistic events.
• Palacio de Gobierno – The State Government Palace is known for its exquisite murals.
• Casa Natal de Morelos – The birthplace of José María Morelos, a hero of the Mexican War of Independence.
• Casa de la Cultura – A cultural center housed in a historic building with various art exhibitions.
• Casa de las Artesanías – A center for traditional Michoacán crafts.
• Conservatorio de las Rosas – A historic music school with beautiful architecture.
• Colegio Seminario (today the State Government Palace)
• La Alhóndiga (today part of the Palace of Justice)

Churches and Cathedrals:

• Cathedral of Morelia – A magnificent Baroque cathedral in the city center.
• San Nicolás Obispo Church – An iconic church located near the Cathedral.
• Santa Rosa de Lima Church – A beautiful example of colonial architecture.
• San Francisco Church and Convent – A historic church with a lovely courtyard.
• Santuario de Guadalupe – A sanctuary with a rich history and stunning architecture.

Parks and Plazas:

• Plaza de Armas (Plaza de Los Mártires) – The main square of Morelia, surrounded by historic buildings.
• Bosque Cuauhtémoc – A large park with walking paths, fountains, and green spaces.
• Jardín de las Rosas – A charming garden with a variety of roses and sculptures.
• Plaza Villalongín – A picturesque plaza with a prominent statue of José María Teclo Morelos y Pavón.
• Plaza de San Agustín – A smaller, quaint plaza known for its tranquil atmosphere.

Museums:

• Museo Regional Michoacano – A museum showcasing the cultural history of Michoacán.
• Museo Casa de Morelos – A museum dedicated to the life and work of José María Morelos.

Other Attractions:

• Aqueduct of Morelia – A stunning aqueduct that stretches across the city.
• El Callejón del Romance – A charming alley known for its romantic ambiance.

This list highlights some of the key attractions in Morelia, but the city has even more to offer in terms of culture, history, and natural beauty. Exploring its streets and squares will reveal many more hidden gems and historical sites.

Self-guided walking tour in the Historic Center of Morelia

Morelia offers several great options for day trips and excursions to nearby tourist attractions:

Pátzcuaro: This picturesque town is famous for its stunning Lake Pátzcuaro, as well as its rich indigenous culture and crafts. You can explore the town’s historic center, visit Janitzio Island, and experience the Day of the Dead celebrations in October.

Tzintzuntzan and Tarascan ruins: Just a short drive from Pátzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan is home to ancient Tarascan ruins. The Yacatas pyramids are a must-see, providing insight into the pre-Hispanic history of the region.

Santa Clara del Cobre: This town is known for its skilled copper artisans. You can watch craftsmen at work, shop for unique copperware, and learn about the traditional techniques used in this art form.

Paricutin Volcano: If you’re interested in natural wonders, consider a visit to Paricutin, a dormant volcano. You can hike to its crater and enjoy the beautiful surrounding landscapes.

Quiroga: Quiroga is a small town, not far away from Lake Patzcuaro. Quiroga is known for its bustling market, where you can sample regional cuisine, buy handicrafts, and experience the local culture.

Cuitzeo: This town is home to the Cuitzeo Lake, a tranquil spot for birdwatching and enjoying nature. You can also explore the town’s historic center and visit the Ex-Convent of Santa María Magdalena.

Uruapan: Uruapan is famous for its lush national park, Parque Nacional Barranca del Cupatitzio, where you can take a refreshing stroll along the river and admire waterfalls and lush vegetation.

Capula: Another small town in Michoacan. Capula is renowned for its pottery, especially its distinctive Day of the Dead ceramic figurines. You can visit local workshops and purchase unique souvenirs.

Zirahuen: Zirahuen is also a small town situated on the shore of the Zirahuen Lake. This lake is surrounded by pine forests and offers opportunities for boating, hiking, and relaxation in a serene natural setting.

Tingambato Archaeological Site: Tingambato is situated approximately 110 km northwest of Morelia. The ruins of Tingambato feature impressive pyramids and structures from the ancient Purepecha civilization.

These are just a few of the many options for day trips from Morelia. Depending on your interests, you can choose one or more of these destinations to explore and make the most of your visit to this culturally rich region of Mexico.

The Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia is an annual event begun in 1988 by Bernal Jiménez, who dreamed of making Morelia the “Salzburg of America.” The festival consists of more than forty concerts with over 500 artists participating.

It has become the largest music festival in Morelia, with private and government sponsors, esp. CONACULTA. Concerts include chamber orchestras, choirs, ensembles, trios, and soloists such as pianist Joanna MacGregor and the Britten Symphony.

Each year, a different country is the “special guest,” which in 2009 was the United Kingdom.

That year, some of the participants included the London Symphony Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet, the La Britten Symphony Orchestra, the Coro Nova Scholla Gregoriana Di Verona of Italy, and violinist Tanya Anisimova from Russia.

Participants from Mexico included the National Symphonic Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, and flutist Horacio Franco.

The Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia was begun in 2003 and is mostly dedicated to Mexican cinema, showcasing up-and-coming directors and productions. The majority of activities take place in the Cinépolis Morelia Centro but also include other theaters, auditoriums, and public plazas.

Morelia is the site of the annual Zapata Vive Morelia Festival, which celebrates the life of Emiliano Zapata with cultural and political activities. The purpose of the event is to promote exhibitions by artistic, cultural, and social organizations from the state of Michoacán and other parts of the country.

Events are spread out over several days and include ones such as concerts, round tables, and information sessions. The event encourages those organizations that work with the lower social classes and are politically left to participate.

The Festival de Escala is an annual event dedicated to promoting rock climbing in the municipality at places such as El Paredón de la Noria, just south of the city proper.

A popular festival that features a 3-day Salsa competition in the heart of Morelia is called “SalsaMich”. Typically held in March, the festival brings Salsa dancers from all across the country to Morelia to compete for prizes.

Morelia, Mexico, is well-connected by bus to various cities and towns in the region.

Intercity buses

Here is a list of some of the cities and towns from which you can travel to Morelia by bus.

• Mexico City – approx: 3-4 hours
• Guadalajara – approx: 4-5 hours
• Querétaro – approx: 2-3 hours
• Pátzcuaro – approx: 2-3 hours
• Uruapan – approx: 2-3 hours
• Zamora – approx: 2-3 hours
• Toluca – approx: 4-5 hours
• Puebla – approx: 5-6 hours
• León – approx: 4-5 hours
• Acapulco – approx: 7-8 hours

The availability of bus routes may change over time, so confirm your options before planning your trip.

General Francisco Mujica International Airport

Morelia International Airport handles both domestic and international flights:

Domestic Destinations:

• Mexico City (Benito Juárez International Airport)
• Guadalajara (Guadalajara International Airport)
• Monterrey (Monterrey International Airport)
• Tijuana (Tijuana International Airport)
• Cancún (Cancún International Airport)

International Destinations:

• Chicago, USA (Chicago O’Hare International Airport)
• Dallas/Fort Worth, USA (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport)
• Houston, USA (George Bush Intercontinental Airport)
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Please verify the current destinations and flight schedules with the airport or airlines, as routes can change over time.

Getting around in Morelia

Morelia’s historic center is pedestrian-friendly, making it easy to explore on foot. Many of the city’s main attractions are within walking distance of each other, so strolling around the historic center is a great way to see the sights.

In the historic center of Morelia, you may find tourist trolleys or tram-like vehicles that offer guided tours of the city’s landmarks. This is an excellent way to learn more about Morelia’s history and architecture.

Getting around Morelia is relatively easy, and you have several options for transportation within the city:

• Local Buses (Camiones)
• Collectivos
• Taxis

Some areas of Morelia have bike lanes, and you can rent bicycles for short trips within the city.

If you prefer the flexibility of having your own vehicle, you can rent a car from rental agencies in Morelia. Keep in mind that traffic and parking can be challenging in some parts of the city, particularly in the historic center.

The town is called “Nuevo” because the original San Juan Parangaricutiro was destroyed during the formation of the Parícutin volcano in February-March 1943. The name Parangaricutiro has several interpretations.

Some believe it means “jar on high”, while others think it signifies “the small one”, referring to the town’s humble beginnings. Another interpretation is derived from the Purépecha word “parangari” (mesa or plateau).

***

The town of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro is also famously known as Parangaricutirimícuaro, the longest toponym in Mexico. Some believe that the word “Parangaricutirimícuaro” is an urban legend and doesn’t exist.

It is the object of the folklore of many fictitious fables. The word itself is a tongue-twister and it is also used in longer tongue-twisters that include nonsense words similar to Parangaricutirimícuaro e.g.:

“El pueblo de Parangaricutirimícuaro se va a desparangaricutirimicuarizar. Quien logre desparangaricutirimicuarizarlo primero será un gran desparangaricutirimicuarizador”.

Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro emerged from the exodus of the original town of San Juan Parangaricutiro, which had to be evacuated due to the Paricutín volcano’s eruption in February-March 1943.

Along with the village of Parícutin, San Juan Parangaricutiro was buried beneath ash and lava. The tops of cathedrals in old San Juan Parangaricutiro still protrude from the volcanic deposits.

The residents relocated to a place previously known as “La Hacienda de los Conejos,” about 30 km from their original location. There, they established the new settlement, naming it Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro.

On May 12, 1944, the community arrived at their new land. They carried their patron saint, “El Señor de Los Milagros”, who now resides in the Sanctuary of the Lord of Miracles, a place of reverence to this day.

San Juan Parangaricutiro originally included areas like Zacán, Caltzonzin, and Paricuti.

After the evacuation, the town became part of the Uruapan municipality until 1950, when it regained its status as an independent municipality, with Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro as its seat.

Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro is a town of Purépecha origin – an indigenous people that primarily live in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.

Major festivals

• January 8: Dance of the Kúrpites.
• Corpus Christi Thursday: Demonstration of local trades and dance.
• June 24: Patronal feast in honor of Saint John the Baptist.
• September 14: Feast in honor of the Lord of Miracles.
• September 21: A procession with wind bands and orchestras.
• October 31: To honor children who passed away during the year.
• November 1: Preparation of altars for the deceased.
• November 2: Traditional Purépecha Day of the Dead.

The culture of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro is deeply rooted in the traditions and customs of the old town of San Juan Parangaricutiro. These traditions emphasize community unity, involving every family member in the celebrations.

The town is known for its wooden crafts, magic boards, and toy cars. Locals produce and sell shawls and embroidered dresses, typical garments worn by most women in the town, along with other traditional Purépecha attire.

Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro offers distinctive regional dishes:

• Churipo (a beef stew with regional spices and cabbage)
• Atápakua (a savory green atole made with beef, mint, and cilantro)
• Té de nuríte (nurite tea), among others.

This church is all that remains of the small village of San Juan Parangaricutiro in the state of Michoacán in Mexico.

The town was completely blanketed after the eruption of Volcán de Parícutin in 1943. For the next eight years, lava flowed freely, burying the town underneath feet of volcanic rock – though its church survived unscathed.

The volcanic eruption was particularly unique as its entire evolution was observed and studied. Many also consider this volcano, and adjacent lava-covered village, to be one of the natural wonders of the world.

Under the church, houses and other buildings remain buried, but no residents were injured during the extended eruption.

As municipal seat, the town of Pátzcuaro is the governing authority over 104 other named communities, with a total population of 79,868 and a territory of 435.96 sq km. The 2005 census indicates that just under 4,000 people still speak an indigenous language in the municipality.

The municipality covers most of the Pátzcuaro basin, which is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and surrounded by a number of mountains such as the Cerro el Blanco, Cerro del Estribo, Cerro del Frijol, and Cerro del Burro.

Almost all the water in Lake Patzcuaro comes from one stream called the El Chorrito and a number of freshwater springs.

The climate is temperate with rains in the summer. Temperatures vary during the year from between 9 and 23 C.

The municipality is primarily covered in forests with pine, holm oak, and cedar trees. Most fauna consists of small mammals and fish found in the lake.

There are several possibilities as to the meaning of “Pátzcuaro”.

The first is from “phascuaro” which means place dyed in black, or from “patatzecuaro”, which means place of foundations, another is from petatzimícuaro meaning place of bullrushes, and still, others state that it means happy place or seat of temples.

Pátzcuaro received its coat of arms in 1553 from Charles V of Spain.

The only history available about the founding of Pátzcuaro comes from a book called Relación written by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza.

It states that two chiefs by the names of Páracume and Vápeani arrived in the area, then called Tarimichundiro, with their tribe, the Chichimecas. Here they began to build their temples, called “cues” by placing four large rocks close together.

No date is given for this event, but since the deaths of the two original chiefs occurred in 1360, it is widely supposed that the founding occurred around 1324.

Around this time, three indigenous groups lived around Lake Pátzcuaro and continuously fought each other. One group was called the “Coringuaro,” another group the “Isleños” and the third the Chichimecas in Pátzcuaro.

The Tarascan kingdom began with Tariácuri, the first chief of the area who assumed the title of “caltzontzin,” or emperor, by conquering his neighbors. Pátzcuaro was the first capital of the Tarascos.

The new kingdom was divided into three principalities called Ihauatzio, Tzintzuntzan, and Pátzcuaro. Later, power shifted to the Tzintzuntzan principality, becoming the new capital, leaving Pátzcuaro as the ceremonial center, and a retreat for the nobility.

When the Spanish arrived in Michoacán, many sought refuge in Pátzcuaro. Forts were built in a neighborhood that is still called “Barrio Fuerte” (Fort Neighborhood).

Fighting continued between the Tarascans and the Spanish. A meeting between the emperor Tanganxoan II and Cristóbal de Olid was arranged. Getting down off his horse, Olid embraced the monarch, then forced him to kneel in front of the crowd.

Later was built a chapel called “El Humilladero” (The Humiliated).

In 1526, Nuño de Guzmán came as the head of the new Spanish government to punish the Tarascans harshly. This culminated with the torture and death of Tanganxoan II the last Tarascan emperor.

After this, most residents of Pátzcuaro fled to the mountains leaving the area mostly unpopulated. Vasco de Quiroga arrived in Pátzcuaro to take over. He expelled Nuño de Guzmán and confiscated his properties.

Nuño was eventually sent back to Spain as a prisoner for his crimes in New Spain.

In 1538, the Spanish established their settlement in Pátzcuaro, founding the Diocese of Michoacán with Vasco de Quiroga as the first bishop. Pátzcuaro was made the capital of the new Spanish province.

The 1540s saw a repopulation of the area with Bishop Vasco de Quiroga convincing many of the Indians to return and bringing in a number of Spanish families. For this Vasco de Quiroga is considered to be the founder of modern Pátzcuaro.

He renamed the place the City of Michoacán, which was confirmed by royal decree in 1553, with Pátzcuaro receiving its current coat of arms. The cathedral was constructed over the temple dedicated to the goddess Cueráppari.

Vasco de Quiroga wanted to build an ambitious cathedral here, with five naves, but this was declared unacceptable by the Spanish crown and only one of the naves was built.

It remains to this day. Pátzcuaro remained the largest city in the Spanish province until about ten years after Vasco de Quiroga’s death.

Viceregal authorities then decided to change the capital to the recently founded Valladolid (today Morelia) in 1575. Ecclesiastical authorities moved the diocese and the College of San Nicolás, established by Vasco de Quiroga, to Valladolid as well.

Pátzcuaro remained the economic and spiritual center of the Lake Pátzcuaro region with a life dominated by Franciscan and Augustinian friars. In the mid-18th century, the city had a population of about 3,300 people.

During the Mexican War of Independence, Pátzcuaro was attacked several times. Gertrudis Bocanegra was shot by a firing squad for her participation in insurgent activities by royalist forces on the main square of Pátzcuaro on 10 October 1817.

After Independence, the town was the capital of the 12th district of the West Department of Michoacán. In 1831, the state was reorganized and Pátzcuaro became the seat of the municipality of the same name.

During the Reform War in 1867, Pátzcuaro sided with the Conservatives, who wanted to maintain the second Mexican empire. The city was then attacked by General Régules of the Republican side, who took possession of the town after a bloody fight and named liberal leaders.

During the Porfirio Díaz period, just before the Mexican Revolution, the Pátzcuaro area was heavily dominated by large landholders, haciendas, and some foreign companies, pushing popular sympathy for the rebels to come.

The town became a strategic point for taking the Michoacán capital. The town remained in rebel hands for most of the conflict but was taken in 1913 by Victoriano Huerta’s government.

At the end of the conflict, the reconstruction of the town included the conservation of its colonial and indigenous look.

Since the Mexican Revolution, Patzcuaro has worked to keep its traditional colonial-indigenous look. Unlike the capital, houses in Pátzcuaro are made of adobe and/or wood and generally have tiled roofs. Cobblestone streets dominate the center of town down to the lake.

The town is filled with stores and vendors selling a wide variety of crafts, many in bright colors. Patzcuaro is the market hub of the region, with smaller villages bringing in their own specialized crafts such as copperware, black pottery, musical instruments, baskets, etc.

Local dishes include tamales filled with fish, tarasca soup, red pozole, atole, trout dishes, and a number of cold drinks based on corn. The courtyards and balconies are almost always filled with flowering plants, which is a tradition in Patzcuaro, with many homeowners sharing tips and plants with each other, sometimes even cross-breeding a new variety of flowers.

The most common flower to be seen is the begonia, which blooms best between July and September. Other common plants include geraniums, mallows, bougainvilleas, tiger lilies, azaleas, hydrangeas, roses, and others.

Non-flowering plants that can also be seen include palm trees, selaginella, and various cacti. Some grow medicinal and culinary herbs such as aloe, chamomile, mint, basil, and others.

Patzcuaro was named one of the 100 Historic World Treasure Cities by the United Nations. This generated funds for restoration projects such as repairing the old cobblestone streets. It is also one of Mexico’s “Pueblos Mágicos” (Magic Towns).

The town center is called the Plaza Vasco de Quiroga or the Plaza Grande. This plaza is large considering the size of the town. The Plaza Grande was dedicated to Vasco de Quiroga in 1964 when a fountain containing a bronze statue of the bishop was placed in the center.

This sculpture was done by Costa Rican artist Francisco Zúñiga. The Plaza is surrounded by old, stately ash trees and colonial-era mansions. Unlike most other towns and cities in Mexico, the main church does not face this plaza.

While crafts can be seen for sale in all of the towns, they are prominent in the Plaza.

The main square is filled with stores selling a very wide variety of crafts including carved wooden statues and furniture, brightly painted accents depicting flowers and animals, brilliant piles of woven textiles, draperies, table cloths, bedspreads and napkins, wooden figures, religious art, clay plaques and pots, polished wooden boxes, and guitars, picture frames, woolen blankets, copper vases and platters, basketry, and items made of woven straw and reed, and sculpted and scented candles.

Many of these are on display in the shops set into the colonial buildings around the plaza, with much more inside.

Facing the main plaza is the Palace of Huitziméngari. This structure, like most of the rest of the town, is made of adobe and has a clay tile roof. This palace belonged to Antonio de Huitziméngari, the son of the last Tarascan cazonci (monarch), and the godson of the first viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza.

It has two floors, and a sober facade, and the inner courtyard is surrounded by round arches and filled with flowers. On the upper floor, there is a statue of a dog, an allusion to Huitziméngari’s name which in Tarascan mythology referred to the dog that served the Lord of Paradise. The dog motif is repeated on some of the inside doors.

One block to the north of the Vasco Plaza is the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra, also called the Plaza Chica. The market off of Gertrudis Bocanegra specializes in woolen goods, kitchen implements, pottery, copper, and straw items.

Friday is market day, filling the walkways here with stalls with goods from various villages. Near main holidays, such as Day of the Dead, this market can spill over to the other two plazas in town as well.

One of the buildings next to this plaza is the Ex Temple of San Agustin, which was founded in the 16th century. Today it houses the Gertrudis Bocanega Library. This library has a mural painted by Juan O’Gorman depicting the history of Michoacán.

Two blocks east of the Plaza Chica is the most important church in Pátzcuaro, the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Salud. This church was built by Vasco de Quiroga over a pre-Hispanic ceremonial site to function as the Cathedral of Michoacán.

Vasco de Quiroga’s original project was ambitious, with five naves surrounding a cupola, but the Spanish Crown thought the project inappropriate, and only one of the naves was built.

The church served as the Cathedral until 1850 when that function was moved to Valladolid (now Morelia). This church was designated a basilica in 1924. The facades have been modified since it was built at the end of the 19th century, which is why it now has a Neoclassical appearance.

The inside has a roof decorated to look like a vault but it is really a flat roof. The image here is the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception that originally was in the Hospital of Santa Marta.

Now called “Our Lady of Health”, it is made with corn-stalk paste and honey that was created in the 16th century. The remains of Vasco de Quiroga are interred here. This basilica is visited every day, but especially on the eighth day of every month to pay homage to the region’s patroness.

The Museo de Artes e Industrias Populares (Museum of Popular Arts and Industries) is located just south of the Basilica. The building was originally constructed as the College of San Nicolás in the 16th century by Vasco de Quiroga to prepare young men for the priesthood and to teach Indian youth to read and write.

After the College was moved to Valladolid in 1580, the building was turned over to the Jesuits to found the College of Santa Catarina which functioned as a primary school. It contains one of the largest collections of lacquered items, models, and other crafts.

The Temple Sagrario was begun in 1693 and completed exactly two centuries later. For this reason, it has incorporated a number of different architectural styles, with different decorative elements.

The temple has a Neoclassical interior, with the parquetry floors as the only aspect left of the original construction. It has a Churrigueresque altar and on the west wall, there is a small chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Dolores on a Baroque altarpiece. These are the only ones of their type left in Pátzcuaro. The building has functioned as the Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de la Salud since 1924.

The Casa de Los Once Patios (House of Eleven Courtyards) was constructed in 1742 for Dominican nuns of the order of Santa Catarina de Sena. They gradually expanded the initial building by buying adjacent houses, which is why the complex once had eleven courtyards, but now that is down to only five.

In the west corridor, the oldest part of the complex, there is a fountain and a Baroque portal leading to a room that had a bathtub with hot and cold running water, a rare luxury at the time.

In the 1960s, the complex was restored and since then has functioned as workshops and stores for local crafts. The workshops include those that make shawls and lacquered items. Behind the Casa de Los Once Patios is the Pila de San Miguel.

According to legend, the devil was bothering the women who were coming here to get water. To scare the devil away, Vasco de Quiroga put the image of Archangel Michael there.

The Church of San Ignacio de Loyola, better known as the Temple of the Company of Jesus, is one of the most relevant religious structures architecturally. It has a sober Baroque facade divided into panels which are typical for this area.

The interior guard’s valuable religious paintings such as a series of angels and works done in wood. One of these is a multicolored panel about Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

The east wall of this church held the remains of Vasco de Quiroga before they were moved to the Basilica. The complex has a large courtyard and a “punished” clock, set high up in a tower. It is considered “punished” as it does not chime at twelve noon.

It is said that the machinery for the clock was brought from Spain on orders of Charles V who wanted to get rid of it for marking an hour that was disagreeable to the Crown.

Another story states that an unfortunate young woman was killed by the clock when she got in the way of the bell and the pendulum when it was ready to ring twelve. In the 16th century, the complex suffered major damage due to a fire.

It was rebuilt to the look that it has now. This temple and the cloister next door housed the Jesuits when they came to Pátzcuaro at the request of Vasco de Quiroga because of their reputation in the field of education.

The adjoining building is now the Casa de Cultura.

The Chapel del Humilladero was constructed by Vasco de Quiroga in 1553 on the site where the last Tarascan emperor, Tanganxoan II, was forced to kneel before the Spanish, giving the site its name (The Humiliated).

The crucifix of this chapel was sculpted from a single block of cantera stone, both the body and the cross. It is said that Vasco de Quiroga had the piece sculpted in 1553, but it was not finished until 1628.

Pátzcuaro sits on the southern edge of Lake Pátzcuaro, and this lake still has important economic and cultural significance for the town. Associated with Pátzcuaro are a number of islands, the best-known of which is Janitzio, a name that means corn hair.

It is recognizable through the forty-meter statue of José María Morelos y Pavón that is on the top of the hill. Underneath the statue is a series of murals about the life of this Mexican hero. There are four other islands in the lake.

La Pacanda is in the center. This island has a small pond in it with carp and ducks. Yuneén Island is near the center and its name means half moon. Its attractions include vegetation, traditional houses, and cabins for visitors.

Urandenes is closer to Patzcuaro and consists of three islands surrounded by canals in which white fish were formally raised.

The pez blanco (whitefish) that used to bring tourists to Pátzcuaro is no longer fished because of the lake’s contamination, although on special occasions the famous butterfly nets are often displayed in canoes on the water.

Tecuena is the smallest island in the lake and its name means good honey. The docks at Pátzcuaro have boats that travel to these islands.

Until 2007, only Pátzcuaro had a water treatment facility with smaller communities discharging wastewater directly into the lake, causing grave pollution problems. Contamination has mostly been chemical, trash, and wastewater, as well as sediment during the rainy season.

The government of the state of Michoacán, the federal environmental protection agency, and the Instituto Mexicano de Tecnologia del Agua have started a program to clean up the basin of Lake Pátzcuaro.

The plan is to repair the existing water treatment facilities and build two more. It also includes reforestation around the lake, landfills, and barriers to prevent the contamination of the streams of the basin.

Pátzcuaro and the surrounding lake area have one of the best-known Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico. Markets catering to the Day of the Dead abound in all of Michoacán but the best of what is to be had is in the market in the main plaza of Pátzcuaro.

Here is one of the major crafts competitions of the year. Day of the Dead is celebrated very intensely in the towns and villages around Lake Pátzcuaro. Preparations include major cleaning and repair of the local cemeteries and the creation of flowered arches for gates of the atriums of local churches.

These are made with a flower called cempasúchil, related to the chrysanthemum. In the early morning of November 1, the “velación de la angelitos” (wake for the little angels) to honor children who have died during the previous year.

This is generally done in the local cemeteries.

During this day also is an event called the “teruscan,” in which children run around town “stealing” ears of corn, squash, and chayotes from the roofs of neighbors’ houses. The stolen food is brought to the community center to be cooked to feed the community.

Festivities continue to midnight on November 2, which begins the “velación de los difuntos” (wake for the deceased) when again the towns gather in local cemeteries. This time men remain outside.

Women and children enter to lay offerings of flowers and food, generally laid on embroidered napkins. Then prayers and chants are recited. For this reason, the Day of the Dead is usually referred to in Pátzcuaro as the Night of the Dead. When daylight comes, a collection of food is taken for the parish priest and most people go to mass.

A parallel event in Pátzcuaro and other towns in Michoacán is the Festival Cultural de la Muerte. Since 1993, this event has been held to exhibit paintings, photographs, film, dance, crafts, and altars that are created for this day. Canoeing competitions on the lake are popular here as well as “torneos de calavaeras”(tournaments of skulls) which are satirical poetry contests with the theme of death and black humor. This festival takes place from 27 October to 2 November.

Other traditional events associated with the Day of the Dead here include the Concert of the Basilica of Pátzcuaro and the staging of “Don Juan Tenorio” in Erongarícuaro. Both take place at 9 pm on 1 November.

Another interesting event is the “Juego Prehispanico de Pelota Encendida (Mesoamerican ball game –lighted) At 7 pm on 1 November in the village of Tzintzuntzan the game is played in the old ball court, called Las Yácatas, with a ball set on fire.

It is also done in the main square of the village.

There is a legend related to the Day of the Dead here about two Tarascan nobles, Princess Mintzita and Prince Itzihuapa. They were in love but unable to unite in part because of the arrival of the Spanish to Michoacán.

Princess Mintzita offered the Spanish the treasure that was hidden at the bottom of Lake Patzcuaro for the release of her father.

Itzihuapa himself offered to go and get it, but when he did, he was captured by the twenty ghosts that guard treasure, becoming the 21st guardian. This broke Mintzita’s heart.

However, this occurred on the night that these guardian ghosts came back to life for one night and the two lovers were able to spend time together until daylight.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about

tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies, and consulates, fairs

and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Prior to Mexican independence

Tacámbaro’s origins go back to pre-Hispanic times. The purépechas conquered the city in the first half of the 14th century. In 1528, it was awarded as an encomienda to Cristóbal de Oñate, and the town was formally established in 1535. Five years later, a chapel and convent were founded in the town.

In 1631, a partido de indios was established with Tacámbaro as the capital. Epidemics of disease, particularly that of 1575, had stripped the town of much of its population. By 1631, it had eight communities and a small population.

In 1706, Fray Francisco de Fonseca was designated as the town prior. He introduced a street grid, water sources and a reconstructed convent.

Mexican independence and beyond

After the war of independence, Tacámbaro’s haciendas and ranchos were burned down and the town was left in ruins. Reconstruction, however, promptly led Tacámbaro to grow and receive new statuses. In 1828, it was declared a villa by Governor José Salgado; three years later, the municipality was formed as a consequence of a new territorial law. In 1859, Governor Gen. Epitacio Huerta declared Tacámbaro a city and gave it the name Ciudad de Codallos, in honor of General Juan José Codallos (es), who participated in the war of independence. The local residents petitioned for the name to be changed to Tacámbaro de Codallos, which was accepted.

In 1865, a battle was fought at Tacámbaro during the French Intervention in Mexico.

In late 1919, during the Mexican Revolution, Tacámbaro briefly served as the state capital.

In November 2012, Tacámbaro was designated a Pueblo Mágico. It is the sixth municipality in the state to receive this distinction.

The municipality of Tacámbaro has 69,955 inhabitants, of which 34,010 are men and 35,945 are women.

The municipality has some 200 individual communities, of which the largest is Heroica Tacámbaro de Codallos with a population of 25,665. Six other communities have more than 1,000 inhabitants.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

SNational Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

The climate in Tzintzuntzan is generally temperate.

The wet season typically occurs from June to September, with higher precipitation. The dry season, from October to May, is characterized by lower rainfall. The temperatures are relatively mild throughout the year.

The word Tzintzuntzan comes from the Purépecha language, meaning “place of the hummingbirds”. The Purépecha had a god named Tzintzuuquixu, who was involved in guiding the tribe to the Lake Pátzcuaro area.

The Purépecha were one of the tribes that arrived in the Pátzcuaro Lake area in the 12th century. From the 12th to the 14th century, the Purépecha came to dominate the region with their capital at Tzintzuntzan.

The Purépecha Empire is also known as the Tarascan Empire.

In 1400, the foremost ruler of the Purépecha Empire, Tariácuri divided it among his three descendants, Irepan, Hiquingare, and Tanganxoán, with each receiving Pátzcuaro, Ihuatzio, and Tzintzuntzan respectively.

Over time, Tzintzuntzan became the most powerful city in the Pátzcuaro region.

From 1450 to 1521, the Purepech Empire not only held off invasions of the Aztecs but continued extending their own dominion. In fact, until the Spanish arrival in the 1520s, the Purépecha had not known military defeat.

Tzintzuntzan was a large, prosperous city when the Spanish arrived to conquer the area in the 1520s. At that time, it was governed by Emperor Tanganxoán II, who was burned at the stake by Nuño de Guzmán in 1529.

Tzintzuntzan became the first capital city of Michoacán until Vasco de Quiroga moved it to Pátzcuaro in 1539, which at the time was considered to be nothing more than a neighborhood of the powerful Tzintzuntzan.

Although Tzintzuntzan received the title of city in 1523, by 1539 it had lost its former splendor and economic importance. With the advent of the neighboring Patzcuaro, the area was almost abandoned.

This place was under the jurisdiction of Pátzcuaro until the War of Independence.

After the war, in 1831, this place became part of the jurisdiction of the nearby Quiroga (actually Quiroga municipality). Later, in honor of what it was, Tzintzuntzan was named a “Ciudad Primitiva” (Primitive City) in 1861.

The modern town of Tzintzuntzan gained municipal status in 1930.

The pre-Hispanic city of Tzintzuntzan extended from Lake Pátzcuaro to the hills just to the east and had a population of between 25,000 and 30,000 when the Spanish arrived in the 1520s.

The city lost most of its population after the Conquest, and what is now called the Tzintzuntzan archeological site is only the ceremonial center and is located one km east of the current center of the town.

The site is located on a hill that overlooks the modern town and Lake Pátzcuaro. It is situated on a large artificial platform that was excavated into the side of the hill.

The ceremonial center contains a large plaza and several buildings known to house priests and nobility. However, the main attraction is the five yácatas, or semi-circular pyramids that face out over the lake area.

This ceremonial center was called Taríaran or “House of the Wind”. On each of the yacatas was a temple made of wood, in which the most important rites of the Purépecha people and government took place, including burials, of which about sixty have been found.

These are the best known Purépecha yacatas and are considered to be an icon of the region.

The first modern references to the yacatas of Tzintzuntzan date from 1855, when it was first identified as the capital of the ancient Tarascan state, but the ruins were not excavated until the 1930s.

The Museo de Sitio de la Zona Arqueológica was inaugurated in 1992, with the aim of displaying artifacts found at the Tzintzuntzan site.

The main attraction of the modern town is the former monastery complex of San Francisco, which was founded in the 16th century. The complex was designed and initiated in 1530 by Spanish architect (and Franciscan friar) Fray Pedro de Pila.

The complex contains the Church of San Francisco, the Church of La Soledad, two open chapels, and a large atrium, with much of the building material obtained from the nearby yacata pyramids that the Spanish destroyed.

The Church of San Francisco was the first built and still conserves the arch that separates the presbytery from the nave, which was the original portal of the 16th century. Next to this portal is a small open chapel from the same time period.

There is a plaque on this open chapel that states that it stands on the site of the first Mass to be celebrated in Michoacán. Inside the Church of La Soledad is the “Santo Entierro”, which is a wax figure of Christ displayed in a glass coffin.

It is believed (by Mexican folklore) that the arms and legs of this statue are growing. One end of the coffin has an extension added for the feet, with the toes reaching the glass end. Inside the coffin are U.S. and Mexican currency.

The cloister area was built mostly in the 17th century, with the walls painted in murals from different eras, as well as a wood relief carving that represents piety. Next to this cloister is a second, larger open chapel with a presbytery and a transversal gallery.

The complex’s atrium is a large, park-like setting and is named the Atrium of the Olive Trees. This is due to the large gnarly trees that were planted here by Vasco de Quiroga, and supposedly have never borne fruit.

In the 2000s, this complex underwent extensive renovation, which is being sponsored by the State Secretary of Tourism, INAH, and the Adopte una Obra de Arte (Adopt a Work of Art) project, which is a private organization that pairs donors with restoration projects.

The town area around the ex-monastery has been declared a protected area by INAH to mandate orderly urban expansion and to protect the monastery complex. One of the regulations is that no buildings near the complex can be higher than the monastery’s walls.

Part of the restoration project includes the founding of a workshop or school to teach young unemployed people the skills involved in restoration projects, with students working on the monastery project and others.

The project also is in the process of founding a cultural center for the community to be located in the monastery complex once restoration work is completed. Enough of the restoration work has been completed so that events connected with the Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia and the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua have been held here.

Courses to train tour guides for the municipality have also been offered, as well as classes in English and Purépecha and a photography exposition.

The major festival for this municipality is the Festival of the Señor del Rescate. From the 16th to the 19th century, the patron saint of Tzintzuntzan was Francis of Assisi. In the late 1800s, the town was severely affected by a measles epidemic.

A sacristan found an old painting of Jesus hidden away in storage and asked for permission to make a vow to it. The vow was that if prayers to this image stopped the epidemic, the sacristan would sponsor a party in gratitude.

The party indeed took place and has been repeated annually ever since. This is despite the loss of the original painting due to a fire in 1944. The current painting on display is a copy, which believers say is taking on the burnished tones of the original.

The festival is a movable feast and is celebrated during the time period of Carnival, just before Ash Wednesday.

While Carnival is celebrated in this part of Michoacán, the festival of Señor del Rescate is more important, bringing indigenous peoples from all over Michoacán, as well as attracting pilgrims from other parts of Mexico and even from parts of the United States.

The Danza del Señor del Rescate represents a fight between good and evil. It features a number of characters including queens, angels, and demons. Traditionally, girls wear beige, yellow, or white dresses with a cape and crown, imitating the Christ painting. The devils represent evil, and the angels form a barrier the demons cannot pass. During the dance, the demons jump out at the crowds to try to scare them. During the fiesta, bells ring to scare evil spirits, and many pilgrims, some on their knees, enter the Church of San Francisco to give thanks, ask for a miracle, or be blessed with a crown placed on their heads, which represents Christ’s blessings and redemption.

Like the rest of Mexico, Day of the Dead commemorations are important here, and like the rest of the Lake Pátzcuaro area, the celebration is more often called Night of the Dead. In this municipality, homage to the dead in cemeteries begins the night of 1 November and continues to the morning of the 2nd with a candlelight vigil. These dates coincide with the pre-Hispanic harvest festival. Cultural festivities for this event include a parade with floats related to the Night of the Dead commemorations that take place along the edges of Lake Pátzcuaro, as well as handicrafts and cooking competitions, which feature atole. The name of this celebration is the Semana Artístico-Cultural de Noche de Muertos (Artistic-Cultural Week of the Night of the Dead).

Although the Purépecha new year is celebrated at the beginning of February, at the end of December Tzintzuntzan holds the Festival Cultural de Fin de Año (Cultural Festival of the End of the Year) at the adjacent archeological site. The event is sponsored by the municipality, the state secretary of tourism, and other organizations. The event hosts traditional dancers and “pireris” (a type of traditional Purépecha singer). The festival’s goal is to allow Purépecha groups from around Lake Pátzcuaro a chance to demonstrate their culture. Some of the featured dances include the “Danza de los Tumbies”, “Danza de los Moros” and the “Pescador Navegante”. In the evening, the Purépecha ball game (uáruhua) takes place with the ball on fire.

Tzintzuntzan was the capital of the Purépecha Empire when the Spanish arrived in 1522.

As these people did not leave written records, what we know of this city and its empire comes from Spanish writings and archeological evidence. The main Spanish document is called the Relación de las ceremonias y ritos población y gobierno de los indios de Michoacán, written by Jerónimo de Alcalá based on what he was told by the Purépecha elite in 1539.

Other writings that refer to the capital include:

• Hernán Cortés’ fourth letter in 1524
• “La información de Don Vasco de Quiroga, sobre el asiento de su iglesia Catedral,” from 1538
• “Tratado curioso y doctor de las cosas de la Nueva España” by Antonio de la Ciudad Real in 1590
• “Relaciones goegráficas; las Crónica de la orden de Nuestro Seráfico Padre San Francisco, provincia de San Pedro y San Pablo de Mechoacan in la Nueva España” by Alonso de la Rea in the 17th century
• “Crónica de la provincia de los santos apóstoles San Pedro y San Pablo de Michoacán” by Pablo Beaumont

For a number of reasons, the Purépecha origins are shrouded in mystery.

Much of Purépecha culture is very distinct from other Mesoamerican cultures. The Purépecha language has more in common with Zuni in the southwest USA and Quechua in Peru and is unrelated to any other Mesoamerican language.

Jeronimo de Acalá’s collection of stories from Purépecha elders states that these people migrated to the Lake Pátzcuaro region, developing alliances among the people who were already here.

Eventually, they became the dominant group and established their city at Tzintzuntzan. According to collected evidence, the Purépecha people may have begun to dominate the Pátzcuaro Lake area as early as 1000 C.E., but definitely by 1250.

Purépecha traditional history states that around the year 1325, the king, warrior, and hero Tarícuri declared himself lord and made Pátzcuaro his capital. His nephews were sent to rule neighboring Ihuatzio and Tzintzuntzan, and these two began to make military conquests from these points.

During this time of expansion, the sphere of influence moved from Pátzcuaro to Tzintzuntzan, which had gained enough political dominance to bring the other cities under its control.

During much of the empire’s history, Tzintzuntzan had at least five times the population as any of the other cities, about 36 percent of the total Pátzcuaro Basin population.

Around 1440, the empire was consolidated and an administrative bureaucracy was founded at Tzintzuntzan. More expansion of the empire occurred between.

The founding date of the city of Tzintzuntzan is most likely 1450, during the late post-classic period.

The traditional history of the Empire for the 14th and 15th centuries is unclear because if it is to be believed, both Tarícuri and his nephews ruled for more than ninety years.

Records are fairly clear that the consolidation of the empire began in the mid-15th century, producing a tributary state.

The bureaucracy was centered in Tzintzuntzan and the empire expanded outside the Lake Pátzcuaro area from 1440 to 1500. This led to a very mixed ethnic composition for the empire, including the capital itself with only ten percent of the population of the lake area was ethnically Purépecha. About 25 to 35 percent of the population consisted of elites, their servants, and resident craft specialists.

Political, economic, and religious life was controlled by Tzintzuntzan.

The site is located on the side of the Yauarato hill which permits a view of most of Lake Pátzcuaro and its shores. The hill protected this site from attack.

The pre-Hispanic city of Tzintzuntzan extended from Lake Pátzcuaro to the hills just to the east and had a population of between 25,000 and 30,000 when the Spanish arrived in the 1520s.

Purépecha power extended over a wide section of what is now central-west Mexico, encompassing what is now the state of Michoacán and parts of modern Guanajuato, Guerrero, and Jalisco states.

Despite being the capital of the second-largest empire in Mesoamerica when the Spanish conquered Tenochtitlan, the city surrendered to the Spanish without a fight. There are two probable reasons for this. Even before the Spanish themselves arrived, epidemics of their diseases such as smallpox and measles had severely affected the Purépecha population, and likely killed the emperor.

A new, young emperor was hastily installed, who had little political experience and hoped to work around Spanish rule and avoid Tenochtitlán’s fate of utter destruction. This hope ended when the Spanish burned him at the stake.

Tzintzuntzan was made the first capital of the new Spanish province of Michoacán in the 1520s, and Franciscan friars arrived here to evangelize the Purépecha people. Their monastery complex was built in part from stones taken from five yácata pyramids of the ceremonial center.

By the 1530s, the capital had been moved to Pátzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan’s population plummeted until it was all but abandoned.

The Tzintzuntzan archeological site is mostly what was the ceremonial center. It is situated on a large artificial platform excavated into Yahuarato hill overlooking Lake Pátzcuaro from the northeast shore. The ceremonial center contains a large plaza and several buildings known to house priests and nobility but the main attraction is the five yácatas or semi-circular pyramids that face out over the lake area. This ceremonial center was called Taríaran or “House of the Wind”. The archeological site was also a defensive fortification as well as a religious center.

In this ceremonial center, the king, or “cazonci”, functioned as the representative of the main god Curicaueri. His principal duties were to conquer in the god’s name and to ensure that the perpetual fires of the main temples were supplied with wood. Here a great number of human sacrifices were made, usually of prisoners of war. These sacrificed prisoners were believed to be messengers to the gods and were venerated as such. When a decision to go to war was made, huge bonfires were lit here, which would then be duplicated by priests at the eight other administrative centers of the empire. All 91 settlements in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin could see these fires and would know to prepare for war.

Tzintzuntzan has the largest of the Purépecha kingdom’s monumental structures. The two most impressive structures here are the five yácata pyramids and the Grand Platform on which they rest. These are all visible and date from the site’s second stage of occupation. The first stage is represented by smaller pyramid-type structures found underneath the yácatas. The Grand Platform is a large flat surface of 450m by 250m excavated into the side of the hill on which the yácata pyramids and other structures rest.

At the front of the platform, facing out towards Lake Pátzcuaro, are five yácata pyramids in a row roughly from north to south. Unlike Aztec or Mayan pyramids, these structures are rounded, not square. The five structures are roughly keyhole-shaped, linked together at the back by stepped pyramidal platforms. The core of each of these structures is piled-up rubble which was then faced with stone slabs decorated with spirals, circles, and other geometric designs and petroglyphs. These fitted stone slabs are similar to the masonry used by the Incas in South America. Another distinction between this and other Purépecha architecture is that no indication of stucco has ever been found.

On each of the yácatas was a temple made of wood, in which the most important rites of the Purépecha people and government took place, including burials, of which about sixty have been found. The burials that have been excavated contain rich grave goods and are probably of kings and high priests. Three of the yácatas remain unreconstructed.

The yácatas were built over older, more traditional pyramidal structures from the first stage of the site’s occupation. Between Yácatas 3 and 4, openings into the Grand Platform have been dug to reveal some of these structures, which include three sets of stairs and part of a circular wall. Behind the five yácatas is an enormous plaza with some smaller structures. On the platform, only the religious and political elite, their servants, and their guards lived. Rituals such as those to the different gods, the sun and moon, and events such as the equinoxes took place here. At the north end of the platform is El Palacio or Building B, which was explored in the 1940s and the 1980s, with several burials of monarchs and high priests. This was a royal palace or perhaps a residential area for elite priests. The palace had a room dedicated to storing the heads of enemies killed in battle. Building E is located in the middle of the small forest on the platform. It was used to store tribute items. Within this building is evidence of occupation during early colonial times.

Tzintzuntzan was organized by distinct neighborhoods of about 40 wards, each containing 25 households. Commoners, who made up the majority of the population, lived in small houses. They farmed and also produced consumer goods in residential workshops. Their marketplace most likely met daily and had local as well as imported goods, however, its location has not been determined.

The Site Museum of the Archeological Zone of Tzintzuntzan was inaugurated in 1992, with the basic purpose of exhibiting items from the site. The museum contains one hall in which there are displays of religious, decorative, and utilitarian items. There are graphics relating to the history of the empire’s governors as well as a map of modern Michoacán indicating the locations from which the displayed objects originated. The museum offers guided tours and the sale of publications and reproductions of artifacts.

In contrast to the Aztecs and the Maya, the ancient Purépechans left little monumental architecture. Towns were not fortified in any significant way, and roads had little if any paving.

Only two ball courts are known in the area of the old empire and neither is in the capital.

Until relatively recently, archeologists, anthropologists, and historians had little interest in these people. There was even doubt that the Purépechans ever had a state society. However, recent investigations have revealed that the ancient Purépecha had a vast empire, second in territory only to the Aztecs, and a complex culture that was in many ways unlike any other in Mesoamerica.

The first modern references to the yácatas of Tzintzuntzan date from the writings of Beaumont (1855), when Tzintzuntzan was first identified as the capital of the ancient Purépecha state.

The first fieldwork here was that of Nicolas León in 1888. He outlined the basic characteristics of the buildings and gave a brief history of the site, emphasizing the events that led to the ancient city’s destruction. However, no excavations took place at the site until the 1930s.

The area that is now open to the public is the first area to be excavated and reconstructed at the end of the 1930s. In 1930, Caso and Noguera began the first formal excavation in Tzintzuntzan. Their work proved difficult because of the composition of the soil, which made identifying the strata of the site and its chronology difficult.

In 1937, a series of eleven seasons of work at the site began to clean the site, consolidate it, and reconstruct the main architectural elements. Other studies took place alongside this work. This work was headed by Alfonso Caso and focused on Yácata Number 5, as well as the consolidation of the north end of the line of yácatas.

During the 1938 season, further consolidation was undertaken as well as the excavation of burials and the attempt to establish a chronology of occupation via layers. Yácata 5 was cleaned, as well as Building A (from colonial times) and Building B was discovered.

From 1940 to 1946, Yácata 5 was finished, and Buildings B and C were excavated. Topographical and strata studies were undertaken in support of the study of ceramics here. Excavation of burials was completed, and the rectangular area between Yácatas 4 and 5 was investigated, as well as the rectangular area by Yácata 1.

From 1962 to 1968, the area was explored by Dr. Piña Chan. The front of Yácata 1 and the wall delimiting the Grand Platform were reconstructed. A colonial-era building was discovered (Building D), an altar in Building B was discovered and Yácata 5 was excavated to determine how it was built. The neighborhood of Santa Ana, which is in front of the yácata pyramids was explored and more reconstructions of yácatas and walls were done.

In the 1970s, a detailed map was made of the site, relying on both the archaeology that has so far been done and period records. The ceremonial plaza and the perimeter, as well as Yácatas 2 and 3, were the last to be studied. Building E, a storage facility was also found and explored. Outside the perimeter, an obsidian workshop with living quarters was found.

The last time the area was studied was in 1992 by Efraín Cárdenas. The northwest face of the Great Platform was restored and the site museum was built.

The yácatas are considered one of the most emblematic sites of the area. The site hosts the annual Festival Cultural de Fin de Año in which the indigenous communities around Lake Pátzcuaro demonstrate their culture, mostly through song and dance.

The annual event is sponsored by the local municipality, other lake communities as well as the state Secretary of Tourism. It takes place at the end of December between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Some of the traditional dances that take place include the Danza del Pescado, Danza de Los Moros, Danza de Los Tumbies, and Pescador Navegante.

In the evening, there are Purépecha ball games (uárukua) in which the ball is set on fire and sticks similar to those used in hockey are employed.

The actual Purépecha New Year is at the beginning of February.

Tzintzuntzan is one of the very few places in Mexico where Catholicism is not the only major religion making a statement.

Today one of the strongest religions that have been established in Tzintzuntzan is Catholicism. There has been a strong Catholic presence in the land since indigenous people have left the area. While the Catholic church is the strongest religion in the area, it’s not the only belief system there. Behind Catholicism, there is a heavy presence of Evangelicals and Protestants. It’s religions like these that have made a market of the land and its people to bring in more money to strengthen the churches in Tzintzuntzan.

The most well-known church that is standing in the area is the Monastery of San Francisco. These two open chapels bring in tourists from all over the world who are visiting Mexico to get a glimpse of the religious history the land has seen.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

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With a population of over 264,000. The city is the second most populous and the second in economic importance in the state of Michoacán. The city is located at the western edge of the Purépecha highlands of the state at 1,620 meters above sea level.

The municipality has a mild climate with lush forests. It is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and mountainous. Principal peaks include Charanda, La Cruz, Jicalán and Magdalena.

The climate is between temperate and tropical, with most rain falling in the summer. Average annual rainfall is 1,759.3 mm and average annual temperatures are between 8 and 37.5 C.

The flora is mostly mixed forest, with pine, holm oak and deciduous tropical rainforest. Logging includes pine, holm oad and oyamel fir. Areas without trees mostly consist of scrub of various kinds. Notable fauna includes coyote, skunks, deer, foxes, cacomixtle, hares, opossums, ducks and other birds.

The municipality contains numerous small rivers that belongs to the Tepalcatepec basin. The main river is the Cupatitzio. Other important bodies of water include the Caltzontzin Reservoir (also known as the Santa Barbara or Santa Catarina) and waterfalls such as Salto Escondido, Cupatitzio and La Tzaráracua.

The El Sabino Zoocriadero is home to various exotic species. It is 17 km outside the city in an area that has a warmer climate. Its main attraction is its crocodiles but it also has lions, badgers, deer, ostriches and turtles.

The municipality has a population of over 315,000, of which 18,020 speak an indigenous language, mostly Purépecha. Traditional music is mostly influenced by the Purépecha culture with pirecuas and sons, as well as those played by wind instruments.

Pre Hispanic history

Uruapan was a pre Hispanic settlement, inhabited primarily by Purépechas. Much of the history is unknown with numerous unexcavated archeological sites. The oldest document about the area is the Lienzo de Jucutacato, found in the community of Jicalán. It is known that the area was conquered in 1400 by an alliance of the lords of Pátzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan and Ihuatzio.

Colonial era

When the Spanish invaded the Purépecha Empire, the last ruler fled to Uruapan, leading the Spanish here in 1522. For this reason the Spanish arrived here in 1522. In 1524, the area became an encomienda under Francisco de Villegas and evangelized by the Franciscans.

Franciscan friar Juan de San Miguel is considered the founder of the modern city, tracing it out in 1534 into nine neighborhoods, each with its own chapel and patron saint, and assigned who would live in each one. In 1540 the area became an Indian Republic.

During the colonial period, the city was a strategic location, especially for commerce, between the Purépecha highlands and the Tierra Caliente leading down to the coast.

In 1577 a plague decimated the population.

By 1754, the parish of Uruapan consisted of the city of Uruapan, three towns (San Francisco Xicalán, San Francisco Jucutacato and San Lorenzo) along with two ranches Tiamba and San Marcos along with the Carasa Hacienda. The population was a mix of Purépecha, European, African and mixed races peoples.

In 1766, the population revolted against efforts by the Spanish to recruit the population into military service. This was followed by repression and punishment of various persons by execution in 1767, both for the resistance of the prior year and protests against the expulsion of the Jesuits.

From 1795 to 1798, insurgent José María Morelos lived here. During the war, the city served as a refuge various times for insurgents, include local José María Izazaga.

19th century

In 1806, an earthquake destroyed the hospital, and in 1817, the city was burned.

Uruapan officially became a municipality in 1831. For its role in the War of Independence, it was named a Ciuda del Progreso (City of Progress) in 1858.

In 1842, the city supported the rule of Antonio López de Santa Anna.

Because of the French Intervention, the Uruapan was the temporary capital of Michoacan from 1863 to 1867. In 1864, French troops entered and subdued the city. In 1865, General José María Arteaga, head of the Republican Army and four other officers were executed by firing squad, and are known as the Martyrs of Uruapan. In 1866 the Republicans tried to liberate the city from the French at the Battle of Magdalena but were defeated.

The first textile factory was set up in the city in 1874, and the first local newspaper, El Precursor Uruapense was founded in 1880. The first railroad line reached the city in 1899, and a trolley line was built between the rail station and the main plaza in 1900.

20th century to the present

In 1910, a fire destroyed several factories in the city.

The city was attacked several times during the Mexican Revolution, the most notable of which were led by Joaquín Amaro. In the 1930s, efforts to redistribute agricultural land began.

In 1947, the Tepalcatepec Commission was created which modernized the area’s economy as well as infrastructure.

Since the late 20th century, the city has had problems with organized crime, along with much of the rest of the state. Two criminal organizations, Los Zetas and La Familia Michoacana, have fought for control here, because of its geographic location among drug routes. In 2014, the city was taken over briefly by the Grupos de Autodefensa Comunitaria or “autodefensas”, an armed civilian movement trying to counter the power of the cartels, unsupported by the local and state government.

The city’s center has colonial architecture which contain Plateresque and Moorish elements. There are six historic neighborhoods of the city: San Miguel, San Pedro, San Francisco, Santa Maria Magdalena, San Juan Bautista and Santo Santiago, all of which have colonial-era chapels in their centers. Each of these neighborhoods have their own festival: San José on March 19, El Vergel on the third Friday in June, San Juan Quemado on June 24, San Pedro on June 29, La Magdalena on July 22, Santo Santiago on July 25, San Miguel on September 29, San Francisco de Asis on October 4. The patron saints’ days of these neighborhoods are celebrated with colorful dances such as Los Negritos.

The center of the city is marked by the very large and very long Plaza de Martires de Uruapan. Facing this plaza are two commercial portals as well as some of the city’s most important landmarks. On the north side, there is the La Huatápera Museum, officially called the Museo de los Cuatro Pueblos Indios. Huatápera is a Purépecha word, meaning “meeting place,” and according to tradition, it was built over a pre Hispanic platform, obtaining its social importance from this. Originally the site was a hospital called Hospital Real de la Purísima Concepción established by Juan de San Miguel in 1533, the first of its kind in Michoacán. It functioned not only to heal the sick but also as a center for evangelism and to organize workers by trade.It has a chapel called Santo Entierro, with fine stonework in cantera in Plateresque style. Above the chapel’s arch, there is a niche which contains a sculpture of either Francis of Assisi or Juan de San Miguel flanked by the coats of arms of the Franciscans and the Spanish crown. The interior is restored and contains images of angels playing musical instruments and important people from the history of the Catholic Church. The rest of the complex shows Moorish influence and houses a collection of handcrafts from the various indigenous communities of the state. Just to the east of Huatápera is the Immaculate Concepción church, which was built in the late 20th century. It has a cantera portal finished in the 1970s but no cupola nor bell tower.

The western side of the city is home to the Barranca del Cupatitzio National Park, the second most-visited national park in Mexico. Despite being almost completely surrounded by the city, the park contains trees hundreds of years old, springs, streams, canals and walking paths. The park focuses on the conservation of the ravine which forms the headwaters of the Cupatitzio River, which is fed by various springs and streams starting with the “Rodilla del Diablo” (Devil’s Knee) . According to local myth, Juan de San Miguel forced the Devil to bow before the Cross, with the Devil’s knee making an indentation in the rock from which the first spring emerges. The land was private until the 1930s when the federal government bought it to create the park. The ravine has various waterfalls such as La Yerbabuena and El Golgota, bridges and fountains that take advantage of natural water supply. There is also a mural called Erédira by local artist Manuel Pérez Coronado, but it is almost completely deteriorated.

The San Pedro Factory is a still-operational textile factory built in the late 19th century, when the city was at its industrial peak. Construction of the mill began in 1886, originally to work with cotton but later expanded to other fibers, such as linen and silk. The factory is still in operation but not to the same capacity as in the past. The current owners maintain the more handcrafted feel of the products making bedspreads, tablecloths, napkins and more. Part of the complex is now used for cultural and other events.

The city is home to the narrowest house in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Located at 50-C Carrillo Puerto, it measures 1.40 by 7.70 meters.

The Casa de Cultura (Cultural Center) is located on the western side of Huatápera. It was built in 1992 over what was the Franciscan monastery established by Juan de San Miguel. The original church of this monastery is now the parish church for the city. Built in 1533, it maintains its 16th century Plateresque portal, and the interior of the church has a crucifix that dates from the 18th century. The paintings on the triangular spaces just under the cupola represent salvation and the miracle of the Mass, done by Mohamed Socidel.

Outside of the Uruapan proper, the main communities are Capacuaro, Angahuan, San, Caltzontzin, Jucutacato, Santa, Corupo and Nuevo, all of which are dedicated to agriculture and/or forestry. The municipality borders those of Charapan, Paracho, Nahuatzen, Tingambato, Ziracuaretiro, Taretan, Gabriel Zamora, Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Peribán and Los Reyes.

The La Tzararacua Ecotourism Center is located 10 km south of the city proper, centered on a 40-meter high waterfall of the same name. Next to this is the Tzararcuita (Little Tzararacua), at 16 meters high.

The city’s cuisine is influenced not only by the various ethnic groups in the area but also migration from other parts of Michoacan. Typical dishes include corundas, churipo (a beef and vegetable stew), mutton barbacoa, carnitas, quesadillas with squash flowers, flour tamales, various flavors of sweet and spicy atole, hot chocolate, uchepos, sweet potatoes and plantains cooked in various ways and more.

The Palm Sunday Handcraft Market is held during Holy Week with the most important day being Palm Sunday, after which it is named. It covered the city large main square and attracts over a thousand artisans who sell. In addition to traditional observances for Day of the Dead, the city has sponsored the Festival de Velas on the same days, where candles are arranged and lit to form figures at the Martires de Uruapan and Morelos plazas as well as on adjoining streets. There an Avocado Festival from mid November to mid December which consists of exhibitions and cultural events.

Behind this line of monuments is a market called the Mercado de Antojitos, whose stalls are dedicated to the sale of prepared traditional foods such as carnitas, barbacoas, quesadillas and the like.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

Parícutin is located in the Mexican municipality of Nuevo Parangaricutiro.

It lies on the northern flank of the Cerros de Tancítaro, which itself lies on top of an old shield volcano and extends 3,170 m above sea level and 424 m above the Valley of Quitzocho-Cuiyusuru, wedged against old volcanic mountain chains.

It is surrounded by small volcanic cones with the intervening valleys occupied by small fields and orchards or small settlements, from groups of a few houses to those the size of towns.

The volcano lies on and is a product of, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which runs 900 km west-to-east across central Mexico. It includes the Sierra Nevada mountain range (a set of extinct volcanoes) as well as thousands of cinder cones and volcanic events.

Volcanic activity here has created the Central Mexican Plateau and rock deposits up to 1.8 km deep. It has also created fertile soils by the widespread deposition of ash and thereby some of Mexico’s most productive farmland.

The volcanic activity here is a result of the subduction of the Rivera and Cocos plates along the Middle America Trench.

More specifically, the volcano is the youngest of the approximately 1,400 volcanic vents of the Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field, a 40,000 square km basalt plateau filled with scoria cones like Parícutin, along with small shield volcanoes, maars, tuff rings, and lava domes.

Scoria cones are the most common type of volcano in Mexico, appearing suddenly and building a cone-shaped mountain with steep slopes before going extinct. Parícutin’s immediate predecessor was El Jorullo, also in Michoacán, which erupted in 1759.

Currently, the volcano’s crater is about 200 meters across and it is possible to climb the volcano and walk around the entire perimeter. Parícutin is still hot, and seeping rainwater reacts with this heat so that the cone still emits steam in various streams.

The forces that created the volcano are still active.

In 1997 there was a vigorous swarm of 230 earthquakes in the Parícutin area due to tectonic movement, with five above 3.9 on the moment magnitude scale. There were also some reports of rumbling in 1995 and of black steam and rumbling in 1998.

In the summer of 2006, there was another major volcanic earthquake swarm, with over 300 located near the volcano, indicating magma movement, but with no eruption at Parícutin or anywhere else.

Parícutin erupted from 1943 to 1952, unusually long for this type of volcano, and with several eruptive phases.

For weeks prior, residents of the area reported hearing noises similar to thunder but without clouds in the sky. This sound is consistent with deep earthquakes from the movement of magma.

A later study indicated that the eruption was preceded by 21 earthquakes over 3.2 in intensity starting five weeks before the eruption. One week prior to the eruption, newspapers reported 25–30 per day. The day before the eruption, the number is estimated at 300.

The eruption began on February 20, 1943, at about 16:00 local time. The center of the activity was a cornfield near the town of Parícutin, owned by Dionisio Pulido.

During that day, he and his family had been working their land, clearing it to prepare for spring planting. Suddenly the ground nearby where they were working swelled upward and formed a fissure between 2 and 2.5 meters across.

They reported that they heard hissing sounds, and smoke which smelled like rotten eggs, indicating the presence of hydrogen sulfide. Within hours, the fissure would develop into a small crater.

Dionisio Pulido reported:

At 16:00, I left my wife to set fire to a pile of branches when I noticed that a crack, which was situated on one of the knolls of my farm, had opened .. and I saw that it was a kind of fissure that had a depth of only half a meter. I set about to ignite the branches again when I felt a thunder, the trees trembled, and I turned to speak to Paula; and it was then I saw how, in the hole, the ground swelled and raised itself 2 or 2.5 meters high, and a kind of smoke or fine dust – grey, like ashes – began to rise in a portion of the crack that I had not previously seen.. Immediately more smoke began to rise with a hiss or whistle, loud and continuous; and there was a smell of sulfur.

He tried to find his family and oxen but they had disappeared so he rode his horse to town where he found his family and friends, happy to see him alive. The volcano grew fast and furiously after this. Witness Celedonio Gutierrez, who witnessed the eruption on the first night reported:

.. when night began to fall, we heard noises like the surge of the sea, and red flames of fire rose into the darkened sky, some rising 800 meters or more into the air, that burst like golden marigolds, and rain like artificial fire fell to the ground.

On that first day, the volcano had begun strombolian pyroclastic activity and within 24 hours, there was a scorian cone fifty meters high, created by the ejection of lapilli fragments up to the size of a walnut and larger, semi-molten volcanic bombs.

By the end of the week, reports had the cone between 100 and 150 meters high. Soon after the start, the valley was covered in smoke and ash. The nine-year activity of the volcano is divided into four stages with names that come from the Purépecha language.

The first phase (Quitzocho) extended from February 22 to October 18, 1943, with activity concentrated in the cracks that formed in the Cuiyusuro Valley, forming the initial cone. During this time, the ejected material was mostly lapilli and bombs.

In March, the eruption became more powerful, with eruptive columns that extended for several kilometers.

In four months, the cone reached 200 meters, and in eight months 365 meters. During this period, there was some lava flow.
On June 12, lava began to advance toward the village of Parícutin, forcing evacuations the next day.

The second phase went from October 18, 1943, to January 8, 1944, and is called Sapichi, meaning “child”, referring to the formation of a lateral vent and other openings on the north side of the cone.

Ash and bombs continued to be ejected but the new vent sent lava towards the town of San Juan Parangaricutiro, forcing its permanent evacuation. By August, the town was completely covered in lava and ash, with only the upper portions of the main church still visible.

The evacuations of Parícutin and San Juan were able to be accomplished without loss of life due to the slow movement of the lava.

These two phases lasted just over a year and account for more than 90% of the total material ejected from the cone, as well as almost four-fifths (330 meters) of the final height of 424 meters from the valley floor. It also sent ash as far as Mexico City.

The third (Taqué-Ahuan) lasted from January 8, 1944 to January 12, 1945 and focuses on the formation of a series of cracks on the south side of the cone as well as an increase in activity in the center.

Lava flows from this time mostly extend to the west and northwest. During this period there was also the formation of a mesa now called Los Hornitos to the south.

Over the next seven years, the volcano became less active, with the ejection of ash, stone, and lava coming sporadically, with periods of silence in between.

Professional geologists pulled out of the area in 1948. The last burst of activity was recorded by him between January and February 1952. Several eruptions occurred in succession and a three-kilometer smoke column was produced.

The importance of the Parícutin eruption was that it was the first time that volcanologists were able to fully document the entire life cycle of a volcano.

The event brought geologists from all over the world, but the principal researchers were William F. Foshag of the Smithsonian Institution and Dr. Jenaro Gonzalez Reyna from the Mexican government, who came about a month after the eruption started and stayed for several years.

These two wrote detailed descriptions, drew sketches and maps, and took samples and thousands of photographs during this time. Many of these are still used today by researchers. Foshag continued to study the volcano until he died in 1956.

Between 1943 and 1948, almost fifty scientific articles were published in major journals about the volcano, with even more since. The worldwide effort to study Parícutin increased understanding of volcanism in general but particularly of scoria cone formation.

Despite the ongoing Second World War, the eruption drew attention from around the world, with reporters from newspapers and magazines including Life coming to cover the story.

Airline pilots pointed the volcano out to passengers and one Hollywood film, Captain from Castile, was shot in the area, using the erupting volcano as a backdrop and employing locals as extras.

The eruption also inspired a generation of Mexican artists to depict or allude to it in their works, including Dr Atl, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Alfredo Zalce, and Pablo O’Higgins.

The eruptions ended in 1952, leaving a final scoria cone with a height of 424 meters from the valley floor. The eruption destroyed or heavily damaged a 233 km2 area, and almost all of the vegetation within several kilometers of the crater was destroyed.

The volcano spread lava over 26 km2, with 52 km2 covered in volcanic sand.

The town of Parícutin, which once had a population of 733, is now completely gone, and all that remains of the town of San Juan Parangaricutiro, with a former population of 1,895, are parts of its main church which stands out among the hardened lava flow.

Though no one died directly from the eruption, three people were killed when they were struck by lightning generated by pyroclastic eruptions. The damage from the eruption primarily affected five towns in two municipalities, San Juan Parangaricutiro and Los Reyes.

In addition to the two towns that were obliterated, Zacan, Angahuan, and Zirosto were also heavily affected. The main effect on the people of the area was the disruption of their lives and livelihood, especially during the first two years.

The area most affected by the eruption had a population of 5,910, and hundreds of these were permanently evacuated. Before leaving his home for the last time, Dionisio Pulido placed a sign on the cornfield: “This volcano is owned and operated by Dionisio Pulido.”

The populations of the two destroyed towns were initially moved to camps on either side of the city of Uruapan. The population of the other three towns mostly stayed in place but made adaptations to survive during the eruption.

The people of Angahuan and Zacan mostly stayed where they were. The population of Zirosto divided into three: those who stayed in the original location, now known as Zirosto Viejo, those who moved a few miles away to a ranch which is now is officially called Zirosto Nuevo but locally called Barranca Seca, and a third group founded a completely new settlement called Miguel Silva near Ario de Rosales.

The town of San Juan Parangaricutiro was the seat of the municipality of the same name, and its destruction prompted the political reorganization and a new seat at Parangaricutiro (today generally called San Juan Nuevo), where much of the population of the old seat had been relocated, with some going to Angahuan.

The economy of the area was then and is now mostly agricultural, with population mostly Purépecha, rural and poor.

However, the eruption did cause a number of changes both social and economic to the affected areas, both to adapt to the changed landscape but also because the fame of the eruption has brought greater contact from the rest of Mexico and beyond.

The volcano has become a tourist attraction, with the main access in Angahuan, from which the volcano is visible. The town offers guides and horses, to visit the ruins of the San Juan Parangaricutiro Church as well as to climb the volcano itself.

The volcano is part of the Pico de Tancítaro National Park and is mostly accessible on horseback, with only the last few hundred, very steep, meters to be climbed on foot.

The trek requires a guide even if horses are not used, as the path is not well-marked and passes through forest, agave fields, and avocado groves. Many simply visit the ruins of the church, which are easier to access and still a pilgrimage site, the old altar regularly adorned with fresh candles and flowers.

Nearby is a group of stands selling local food and souvenirs.

The story of the formation of Parícutin is the subject of the children’s book Hill of Fire by author Thomas P. Lewis published in 1983. The book was featured in an episode of Reading Rainbow in 1985.

Zamora de Hidalgo is located in the northwestern part of the state of Michoacán on the Tarascan Plateau at an elevation of 1,567 m above sea level.

The city is the municipal seat of Zamora Municipality, which has an area of 330.97 km² and includes many other smaller communities, the largest of which is Ario de Rayón (Ario Santa Mónica).

More specifically the city is found in Tziróndaro Valley (Purépecha for “Swamp place”), a large alluvial plain surrounded by mountains with a northeast-southeast orientation.

The topography of the region is flat with no slopes greater than 5%. During the Cenozoic, the area was a flood plain of the Duero River which deposited large amounts of basalt, breccia, calcareous tuff, tuff, andesite, and rhyolite.

The dominant basalt rock found in the area gives the soil a rich source of calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, and sodium. The soils in the surrounding areas are rich and fertile making the region perfect for agriculture.

The soil in the area is classified as pellic vertisol with significant amounts of chromate; the soil is of fine texture with a rocky layer containing rocks smaller than 7.5 cm³.

Climate

The city has a humid subtropical climate with an average annual temperature of 18.5 °C.

The warmest month is May with an average temperature of 23.3 °C, and the coldest month is December with an average temperature of 14.7 °C.

The city has an average annual precipitation of about 900.6 mm mostly falling during the summer.

The city was named after the Spanish city of Zamora because the first European settlers to the area were predominantly from the Spanish province of Castilla y León.

Zamora is of Iberian origins that can be traced to the Latin “Civitas Murata” meaning “The Walled City” because it is surrounded by high hills.

In 1953, the city officially added “de Hidalgo” to honor Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla which declared the village a city during the movement for independence in Mexico.

Evidence shows the area was first settled around 1500 BC.

During the Pre-Columbian Period, there were several waves of migrations into the area by surrounding tribes: Pirinda, Nahua, Huetamo, Colima, and Purépecha. Zamora sits in the Tziróndaro Valley which means “swamp place” in the Purépecha language.

The village of Zamora was founded on January 18, 1574, on the orders of Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza, by Spanish settlers from the Spanish city of Zamora.

The Spanish were attracted to the area because of the fertile valleys in the region that was well suited for agricultural development.

Zamora was awarded city status by the Constitutional Congress in 1825, ratifying a decision made on November 21, 1810, by the Mexican War of Independence revolutionary leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

During the 19th century, Zamora developed into a great cultural and economic center due to high agricultural productivity and flourishing commerce. On December 10, 1831, Zamora was declared the municipal seat.

Later the city’s elite began a political movement to create a new state in which Zamora would be the state capital.

In 1846, Archbishop Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos initiated a clerical separation from Mexico City. By 1862 a new ecclesiastical office was founded, Dioceses of Zamora based in Zamora.

The political aspirations to separate from the rest of the state were impeded.

During the Porfiriato the city experienced the fastest economic growth in its history. Between 1854 and 1910, the city experienced rapid economic growth due to industrial development, city modernization, technological innovations, and increased agricultural productivity.

Zamora was one of the first cities in the state that implemented new technologies like railroad stations, telegraphs, telephones, electricity, and modern water systems.

In 1899 the department of transportation connected Zamora by railroad to other important population centers in central Mexico. At the same time, the department of urbanization had an image they wanted for the city which involved many modernization projects throughout the city.

During the Porfiriato the city had an architectural renaissance celebrating many vogue European architectural styles.

Large civil offices and religious temples were erected during this time that flaunted the economic wealth of the city like the Michoacán Center for the Arts, the College of Michoacán, and Obrero de Zamora Theatre.

On February 2, 1898, at the feast of Candlemas led by the second bishop of Zamora, Don Jose Ma. Càzares y Martinez the cornerstone of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe was laid.

During this time many of the city’s elite built new homes largely inspired by Victorian and Châteauesque architectural styles.

The Mexican Revolution reached the state in 1911 when those loyal to Francisco I. Madero proclaimed the city and surrounding area their territory. When the state governor resigned the city would continue to be involved in the war.

In 1918 the state ratified the state constitution. After the Mexican Revolution, the Cristero War continued to devastate the region’s agriculture which had detrimental economic effects on the city.

Political hostilities would finally end in the city and vicinity in 1926.

A number of historic buildings dot the city center, built during Spanish colonial times and the 19th century.

Some of these monuments are the Temple of San Francisco, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe (the tallest cathedral in México); the church of San Francisco, the church of El Calvario, the Morelos Market, and the Federal Palace.

One of the main tourist attractions is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located on 5 de Mayo Avenue.

It is a neo-gothic style architectural cathedral which its construction began on February 2, 1898, this cathedral reaches 107.5 meters in height, 95 meters long, 57 meters wide, and a total surface area of 5,415 square meters making it one of the largest cathedrals of its kind in the American continent.

Zamora has several leisure alternatives, periodically Theater of the City of Zamora offers events, like piano recitals, theater, camera concerts, and works, also the School of Michoacán A.C. with soothes in Zamora offers to the citizenship diverse cultural events like cycles of films festivals, recitals, concerts and presentations of folkloric dances and events.

Every year in December the Festival of the Chongos Zamoranos is held, where the visitor is able to taste gastronomical samples, musical dances, and interpretations, as well as the “Poets Meeting” every 12 December in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe and in diverse places of the city.

One of the nearby best attractions is the Lago de Camécuaro National Park, which is one out of 5 national parks.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700