Guanajuato, Guanajuato

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Guanajuato is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the city. For the state of the same name, see state of Guanajuato.

Image:View of Guanajuato from hill.jpg

The Mexican city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state of the same name. It is located at 21°02′N 101°28′W, 370 km (230 miles) northwest of Mexico City, at an elevation of 1,996 m (6,550 ft) above sea level. The estimated population in 2003 was about 78,000 people.

Guanajuato was founded as a town in 1554 and received the designation as a city in 1741. It is located in one of the richest silver mining areas of Mexico, and is well known for its wealth of fine colonial era Spanish architecture.

The historic town and adjacent mines are a World Heritage Site.

The name "Guanajuato" comes from the Tarascan word, "Quanax-juato", which means "place of frogs".

Plaza de la Paz and the Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato (2004)

The city was originally built over a river, which flowed through tunnels underneath the city. However, after years of raising buildings to accommodate repeated flooding, in the mid-twentieth century, engineers built a dam and redirected the river into underground caverns. The tunnels were lit and paved with cobblestones for automobile traffic, and this underground road network carries the majority of cars driving through the city today. It is one of the most noticeable features of the city.

The city played a major role in the Mexican War of Independence since it is the capital of the State Guanajuato in which Miguel Hidalgo started the independence movement. The Statue of El Pípila and the Alhóndiga de Granaditas still remind of that time.

Image:Guanajuato mummy 02.jpg

In the Panteón catacombs to the west of the city is a famous cemetery noted for the natural mummies produced by unknown means. About 1 in 100 bodies buried here experience natural mummification. In the late 1800s the town instituted a "burial tax" for the families of the deceased. When some of the poorest families were unable to pay the tax, their relatives were dug up and placed on public view in a purpose-built museum. The 'Guanajuato Mummy Museum' still adds corpses to this day; two children were added who died in 1984 most recently due to their relatives' failure to pay the $ 20 per 5 year rental fee. The museum holds 111 corpses resting on velvet pillows. Today, it is reported that the proceeds from the museum help fund the city's coffers to a considerable degree.

The city of Guanajuato was the birthplace of artist Diego Rivera, whose house is now a museum.

The city also harbours one of the largest places in Mexico for mathematical research, a public institution dubbed CIMAT.

Each October the city holds the Festival Internacional Cervantino, an international festival of the arts named after Miguel de Cervantes. The festival is a popular draw for young students from across central Mexico, but attracts participants and spectators from around the world.

[edit] Sister city

[edit] Trivia

The movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico was filmed here. Many of the scenes in the movie feature sights easily recognizable to someone who had been to the city. However being too familiar with Guanajuato and San Miguel is a bit disconcerting as an interior scene may be in one city while passing 'outside' leads to a street scene in the other.

Some forty years earlier [1965] another film was made in Guanajuato by Loius Malle starring Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau - Viva Maria. You can see a trailer and photos by going here: [1]