The Magic of Zacatecas Mexico, Attractions
Zacatecas is one of the three most important colonial cities in Mexico. The great architecture of the colonial era is majestically shown on the Zacatecas Cathedral, built in 1729, its extraordinary pink quarry façade is considered the masterpiece of baroque art in Mexico. The Church of Santo Domingo was built by Jesuits in the 18th century and hosts spectacular baroque altarpieces along its three naves.
Near Zacatecas are two archeological sites of great importance for the preservation of Prehispanic culture. La Quemada (Chicomoztoc) was populated between the years 800 and 1200 A.D.; outstanding because its stone buildings were built on top of artificial terraces on the mountainâs side. Altavista is an impressive archeological site for its 28 round structures and pyramid of the Sun.
Zacatecas residents are devoted Christians and celebrate it each year with the Morismas de Bracho, where they represent battles between Moors and Christians, recreating passages of Christianityâs history with the participation of thousands of persons forming a John the Baptist brotherhood. Also of great religious importance is the Zacatecas National Fair, celebrating the cityâs Virgins, Patrocinio and Our Lady of Zacatecas, with parades to La Bufa Mountain, bullfights, fireworks and great delicacies.
The culinary tradition of Zacatecas is outstanding for its variety of typical dishes such as its Wedding Stew, lamb birria, red pozole, enchiladas en stuffed gorditas. Its deserts are also delicious with guava jam, prickly pear cheese and coconut candies. The typical drinks of the city are Huitzila mescal, agave syrup and Tenampa.
The aerial travel car is an excellent way to appreciate the whole city 85 meters up in the sky, traveling 650 meters from El Grillo to La Bufa Mountains.
For those who love the night life, one of the best places is El Melacate, a night club inside the El Eden mine; there are also many excellent bars, the El Caparral rode and the traditional callejoneadas, a fun walk to sing through the cobblestone streets of this colonial city.
For outdoor adventures there are three beautiful sites where you can rock climb, hike and rappel with beautiful landscapes and rock formations for great challenges. Sierra de Organos is an ecotourism center with five different routes for hiking through its volcanic formations. Sierra de Cardos has huge cylinder a rectangle columns and flat walls for rappelling with different degrees of difficulty. Cañón de Juchipala is a 1,300 meter deep canyon to explore walking alongside the river and practicing rappel.
The prestigious Zacatecas museums are a great delight for art lovers, impressive for the exclusivity of their exhibits as well as for the historic and architectural beauty of their buildings. Pedro Coronel Museum hosts the great collection of universal art by this Zacatecas artists, where you can appreciate Prehispanic, colonial, Egyptian, African and oriental pieces, as well as works by Picasso, Miró, Dali and Chagall. Rafael Coronel Museum is hosted within the former Convent of Saint Francis and shows a spectacular collection of 10,000 masks, the greatest collection of its type in the world. The Museo Zacatecano presents great exhibits of Huichol art through more than 150 embroidered pieces, as well as a collection of popular altarpieces, Mexican ironwork from the 17th and 18t centuries and a collection of images form the Huichol world. The Manuel Felguerez Abstract Art Museum shows a collection of abstract art donated by this Zacatecas born artist.
Artículo Producido por el Equipo Editorial Explorando México.
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Foto: Oliver Alex
