WHAT TO DO IN GUANAJUATO

Student minstrel groups: Estudiantina
Guanajuato has quite a few student minstrel groups which give performances strolling through the city's narrow streets, and in concerts and serenades. A popular tourist attraction, the estudiantina owes its popularity to a character named "Tuno", who creates a world of magic and surprise through romantic, jolly and picaresque music, full of his good spirit, with the city providing a magnificent backdrop.

Teatro Juárez
Inaugurated on October 27 of 1903 by the President of the Republic General Porfirio Díaz, it is without a doubt one of the most attractive theaters in the country and known worldwide for its architecture and for being the home of diverse international and important cultural events. The theater shows the eclecticism in the architecture of that time. The facade is formed by twelve columns of green quarries, finished off by brass and sculptures of the nine muses. The interior is Moorish, with arabesque balconies, boxes and panels.

Address: Sopeña (no street number)
Phone: (473) 732-0183
Hours: Tuesday thru Sunday, 9:00 to 1:45 and 5:00 to 7:45, closed Mondays and on days of shows.
Entrance: $30 pesos

The Pípila Monument
The monument is a tribute to Juan José de los Reyes Martínez nicknamed "Pípila", who is the symbol of the town miners. The sculpture, by Juan Fernando Olaguibel from Guanajuato, was worked in pink quarry from a town mountain, with a neo-classicist style representing the door that "Pípila" set on fire in la Alhóndiga de Grenaditas to obtain the insurgent first victory.

Address: Mirador del Cerro de San Miguel
Hours: Daily from 10:00 to 6:00
Phone: (473) 732 52 96
Entrance: $3 pesos

Museums


The Mummy Museum
The mummification process in Guanajuato is a spontaneous and natural phenomenon caused by a lack of oxygen and the absorption from the wooden box of the fluids that come out from the body when it begins to decompose. The museum collection contains 111 bodies and 3 skulls, the oldest from a French doctor Remigio Leroy who was found in June 9 1865.

Address: Explanada Del Panteon Municipal
Phone: (473) 732-0639
Hours: Open Monday thru Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Entrance: $50 pesos

Diego Rivera Museum
Diego María Rivera Barrientos, one of the most important Mexican painters, was on December 8 of 1886 in one of the rooms of the ground floor where he spent the first six years of his life. The museum is a tribute to the Mexican illustrious muralist with 100 original works of Diego Rivera. This collection is one of the most important of the country because it represents the artist's creative diverse stages, as the years of formation and its cubist period.

Address: Positos # 47, Centro
Phone: (473) 732-1197
Hours: Open Tuesday thru Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Sundays, 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Entrance: $15 pesos
Contact: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Alhóndiga de Granaditas Museum
This imposing work of neoclassical architecture, began in 1797, with a simple design but an impeccable technique reflects Guanajuato´s peacefulness toward the end of the eighteenth century. It was built at the scene of the heroic act from by "Pípila", who burned down the door allowing the rebels to enter on September 28 of 1810 in one of the initial battles of the Independence movement. This important victory motivated the rebels to continue the fight.

Address: Mendizabal # 6, Centro
Phone: (473) 732-1180 and 73-21112
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday, 10:00 to 6:00, Sundays from 10:00 to 3:00.
Entrance: $46 pesos

Art Gallery of La Compañía Church
The collection dates from the seventeeth to nineteenth centuries with important works in three styles: tequitqui, viceregal and neo-classicist with works by European painters Miguel Cabrera, Baltasar Echave Orio, and José Ibarra.

Address: Calle Del Sol # 16
Phone: (473) 733-9782
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday from 11:00 to 6:00, Sundays from 11:00 to 3:00
Entrance: $10 pesos

The People´s Museum of Guanajuato
The ground floor houses one of the most unique collection of Mexican miniatures in the country. In addition, there is a permanent room dedicated to works of the XVII and XIX century that includes portraits of Herrera, Cabrera, Bernal of the Castillo, Gálvez, Arrieta and a room dedicated to the local painter Hermenegildo Bustos.The other two floors are dedicated to temporary exhibitions.

Address: Positos #7
Phone: (473) 732-2990
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday from 10:00 to 6:30, Sunday from 10:00 to 3:00
Entrance: $15 pesos
Info: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Olga Costa José Chávez Morado Art Museum
Built in the 16th century, the museum is located in the neighborhood of Paxtitlan today Pastita. The museum houses a small collection of Pre-Hispanic pieces and tapestries. In addition, there are rooms dedicated to present temporary exhibitions and the collection of oils by Olga and José named "Hand with Hand."

Address: Pastita No.158, Torre Del Arco
Phone: (473) 731-0977
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday from 9:30 to 4:00, Sunday from 10:00 to 3:30
Entrance: $15 pesos

Ex-Convent Dieguino Museum
The museum showcases the style of the religious architecture during the 17th century and reflects the level changes that the city has suffered during the floods in four and a half centuries of existence.

Address: Adjoining the Church of San Diego
Phone: (473) 732-52-96
Hours: Open Tuesday thru Sunday, 10:00 to 6:00

Mineralogical Museum
The museum was founded more than 400 years ago with a collection of 444,000 mineral specimens from all parts of the world including the mines of Guanajuato.

Address: School of Mining of the University of Guanajuato, Alhóndiga (no street number)
Phone: (473) 732-2291
Hours: Open Monday thru Friday from 8:00 to 4:00
Entrance: Free

Art Gallery Mariana de la Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato
This gallery is dedicated to the cult and adoration of Virgin Mary - Ntra. Señora de Guanajuato. It was donated to the city by Felipe II in the middle of the 16th century.

Address: Ponciano Aguilar # 7
Phone: (473) 732-0314
Hours: Daily from 10:00 to 6:00
Entrance: $20 pesos

Gene Byron Museum
This museum is an elegant building that preserves the atmosphere of Treasury of Benefit of Silver Minerals. It dates back to the 17th century, the time of the Guanajuato mining peak. It features the period furniture and the lamp designs and work of Canadian painter, Gene Byron. The exquisite interiors and the smooth light in the wide and beautiful gardens will make your visit an unforgettable experience. It is also cultural center with a musical academy specializing in Baroque music.

Address: Ex-Hacienda de Santa Ana (no street number), Marfil, Guanajuato.
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday 10:00 to 5:00, Sundays from 10:00 to 3:00
Phone: (473) 733-1029
Entrance: $30 pesos

Don Quixote Iconographic Museum
It is considered the most important in the world in its category, with a collection of more than 800 pieces with figures of el Quijote and other characters of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra´s novel "Don Quijote de la Mancha".

Address: Manuel Doblado #1, Centro
Phone: (473) 732-3376
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday from 10:00 to 6:30, Sundays from 10:00 to 2:30
Entrance: $20 pesos

Dark Chambers of the Holly Inquisition Ex-Hacienda Del Cochero
Housed in a colonial building from the 17th century, the museum features prisons and underground dungeons that demonstrate that the human crueltyhas no limits.

Address: Mineral de Valenciana (no street number)
Hours: Daily from 10:00 to 6:00
Phone: (473) 733 47 66
Entrance: $30 pesos
Info: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Churches

  • Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato. This venerable parish church, now the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato, was begun in 1671 and completed in 1696. It is one of the finest examples of seventeenth century mannerist-baroque architecture. In its interior, one can admire the antique figure of the Virgin, patron of Guanajuato, which was a gift from King Charles I and his son, Phillip II of Spain.

  • Church of La Compañía de Jesús. The Church of La Compañía, or Society of Jesus, is the best example of golden age architecture in Guanajuato; it marks the most mature stage of Churrigueresque design in New Spain. The construction of this church began in 1747 and was completed in 1765. Restored religious paintings can be seen in the sacristy.

  • Church of Hospitales. In 1560, construction of a hospital for the Tarascan natives was begun. Five years later, it was inaugurated and dedicated to the veneration of the Virgin of the Rosary. In 1913, the image of Immaculate Mary was brought from Europe. This is the image that is venerated today.

  • Church of Santa Casa. A small chapel dedicated to the veneration of Saint John the Baptist since its inception. Later in the nineteenth century, it was the church of the Franciscan Order until they were granted their own church.

  • Church of San Cayetano or Valenciana. This Churrigueresque church, built of pink quarry stone, features three wooden altarpieces covered in gold leaf. In 1775, the construction was begun in an area near the Valenciana Mine, and the church was completed in 1778. Initially, the church belonged to the Hospitalet Order of the Latins. That same order built a convent adjoining to the church which they never occupied and which today it houses the School of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Guanajuato.

  • Church of San Diego. The Franciscan Order began the construction of this church in 1763, but the flood in 1780 destroyed it. The reconstruction project was financed by the first Count of Valenciana, and was concluded in 1784. The façade, carved in pink quarry stone, is an important example of Churrigueresque architecture.

  • Church of San Francisco. When the Franciscans arrived in Guanajuato, they founded a hospice next to the Church of San Juan Bautista, which was later conferred to them in 1828. They built the Convent of San Francisco there, which was concluded in 1792. The Franciscans decorated the interior with stone altars, carved in the neo-baroque style of the period.

  • Church of San Javier. This church had its beginnings in the second half of the seventeenth century as a simple chapel in the hacienda "San Francisco Javier", where the sacraments were received by the owners and miners.

  • Church of San José. On the street known as San José, next to the lane and town square called Carcamanes and towards the barrio of Cerro Del Cuarto, one finds the strikingly beautiful Church of San José or Saint Joseph.

  • Church of San José Santiago. This church is located in Marfil, a town which grew on the banks of the Guanajuato River in the eighteenth century and was the site of various haciendas and ore-concentrating mills. Built in 1854, here parishioners venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception as well as Saint Joseph.

  • Church of Santa María de la Asunción. The construction of this church dedicated to Saint Mary of the Assumption began in April of 1873 with funds and land granted by then governor Florencio Antillon. It was designed by architect Jose Noriega. The church's central tower has a German clock which was installed in 1875.

  • Church of Pardo. Built during the early seventeenth century, it was then a simple chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe and it was part of the mine-hacienda of Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as "Pardo".

  • Parish Church of Belen. In 1727, the Bethlehemite Order requested cooperation and assistance to found a hospital with a hospice-convent and parish church in this city. Soon after 1773, the construction began on the lands of the old hacienda and ore-concentrating mill known as "Cervera". The church still maintains its original Churrigueresque baroque façade.
    Historic Center

  • Church of San Sebastian. During the colonial period, there were as many cemeteries in Guanajuato as there were churches, seeing as the courtyards of the churches were, in fact, cemeteries. At that time, the San Sebastián Cemetery, which dates back to the eighteenth century, was outside the city limits. In 1782, a parishioner by the name of Moratin, with the help of alms he received, built the church which is situated on the grounds of this cemetery.

  • Church and Town Square of San Roque. The small Church of San Roque, located next to a fine town square with an undeniable urban charm, was built at the beginning of the eighteenth century, around 1726. Its façade is baroque in style. The square has been the stage for the short comic plays known as Entremeses Cervantinos since 1953. These plays gave place to the International Cervantes Festival in 1972.

  • Shrine of Guadalupe. Built in the eighteenth century, this shrine is known for the groups of dancers that gather here from all over the state during the December celebrations in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe.