Must-see attractions in Zacatecas

  • Museo Rafael Coronel

    Zacatecas

    The excellent Museo Rafael Coronel is not to be missed. Imaginatively housed in the ruins of the lovely 16th-century Ex-Convento de San Francisco, it…

  • Museo Pedro Coronel

    Zacatecas

    The Museo Pedro Coronel is housed in a 17th-century former Jesuit college and is one of provincial Mexico's best art museums. Pedro Coronel (1923−85) was…

  • Cerro de la Bufa

    Zacatecas

    The most appealing of the many explanations for the name of the hill that dominates Zacatecas is that bufa is an old Basque word for wineskin, which is…

  • Mina El Edén

    Zacatecas

    Visiting one of Mexico's richest mines (1586−1960s) provides an insight into a source of wealth and the terrible price paid for it. Digging for hoards of…

  • Catedral

    Zacatecas

    Built between 1729 and 1752, the pink-stone cathedral is an ultimate expression of Mexican baroque. The stupendous main facade is a wall of detailed…

  • Museo Toma de Zacatecas

    Zacatecas

    This museum memorializes the 1914 battle fought on the slopes of the Cerro de la Bufa in which the revolutionary División del Norte, led by Pancho Villa…

  • Capilla de la Virgen del Patrocinio

    Zacatecas

    Named after the patron saint of miners, this 18th-century chapel has a holy image of the Virgen del Patrocinio above its altar that is said to be capable…

  • Museo del Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez

    Zacatecas

    This superb abstract-art museum is worth visiting for the building alone; originally a seminary, it was later used as a prison and has been renovated to…

  • Plaza de Armas

    Zacatecas

    The city's main plaza is north of the cathedral and although normally quiet in the day it buzzes at night with families promenading, children playing and…

  • Ex-Templo de San Agustín

    Zacatecas

    The Ex-Templo de San Agustín was built for Augustinian monks in the 17th century. During the 19th-century anticlerical movement, the church became a…

  • Museo Zacatecano

    Zacatecas

    Zacatecas' former mint (Mexico's second-biggest in the 19th century) now houses the wonderful Museo Zacatecano. Spread over a number of rooms, this…

  • Palacio de la Mala Noche

    Zacatecas

    Built in the late 18th century for a mine owner, the building's unusual name ('Bad Night Palace') is accounted for by a local legend that its former owner…

  • Museo Francisco Goitia

    Zacatecas

    The Museo Francisco Goitia displays work by several 20th-century Zacatecan artists, including some evocative paintings of indigenous people by Goitia …

  • Templo de Santo Domingo

    Zacatecas

    With a bubbly stone facade, the tarnished pink Templo de Santo Domingo, in a plazuela of the same name, is in a baroque style, with fine gilded altars and…

  • Palacio de Gobierno

    Zacatecas

    Palacio de Gobierno on the plaza's east side was built in the 18th century for a colonial family. In the turret of its main staircase is a mural of the…

  • Jardín Juárez

    Zacatecas

    Juárez ends at a tiny but charming park of the same name. The Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas' administrative headquarters are housed in the…

  • Museo Manuel M. Ponce

    Zacatecas

    This small five-roomed museum is a touching tribute to the musician, Manuel M Ponce, a well-traveled, intellectual Mexican, whose best-known score…

  • Mercado González Ortega

    Zacatecas

    This impressive 1880s iron-columned building used to hold Zacatecas' main market. In the 1980s the upper level was renovated into an upscale shopping…