By Rafe Calder
Eighty-five meters of pink stone. That is how tall Wikipedia says the cathedral stands, and it is the first thing most accounts of Zacatecas mention. The second is silver.
The silver, and the date problem
Wikipedia says the city was formally set up as a military mining camp in 1548, though it adds that Juan de Tolosa’s expedition of 1546 found silver at Cerro de la Bufa. It says the first major vein was found in 1548, in a mine called San Bernabé. A state tourism document says the city was founded 474 years ago. It is undated, so we cannot place that number against a year and do not use it. The two founding dates in the other sources are 1546 for the silver and 1548 for the camp, and we show both.
World Heritage Site, a listing site, says silver became the heart of the town after the mid-sixteenth century and that it grew into one of the chief mining centers of Mexico. It says production peaked in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Where it sits
Wikipedia puts the city at 2,440 meters above sea level in north-central Mexico, with 149,607 people in the municipality at the 2020 census. The World Heritage Site page says nearly 2,500 meters. We show both. It describes streets that are steep or at different levels because of the mountain setting, and says the original colonial street plan has been preserved.
The listing
UNESCO’s listing, as summarized by World Heritage Site, dates the inscription to 1993, under criteria (ii) and (iv). Wikipedia confirms 1993. The listing site describes a well-preserved Spanish colonial mining town founded in 1548. It also says the town lies on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a route that brought Franciscan and Augustinian missionaries, who built convents and churches.
The cathedral
Wikipedia says the baroque cathedral dates to 1752, is 85 meters tall and is built of pink sandstone, an example of Mexican Churrigueresque architecture. The World Heritage Site page gives 1730 to 1760 for the building and describes a highly decorated Baroque structure with a Churrigueresque façade. It says the dome was modeled on the Church of Loreto in Mexico City. The state tourism document says the cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption and has an altarpiece covered in gold leaf donated by miners. We have not checked the interior.
El Edén and the cable car
Wikipedia says the El Edén mine has operated since 1586, closed in 1960 as a working mine, and reopened as a tourist attraction in 1975. The tourism document says visitors walk through tunnels to a museum of rocks and minerals, with quartz, native silver, fossils and mining tools.
The two sources disagree about the cable car. Wikipedia says it joins Cerro de la Bufa to Cerro del Grillo, about 650 meters. The tourism document says it connects El Edén to La Bufa, with glass-floored cabins. We show both and have not worked out which line is current. Wikipedia also says Cerro de la Bufa was the site of the 1914 Battle of Zacatecas.
Museums
Wikipedia says the Pedro Coronel Museum holds works by Picasso, Dalí and Miró. The tourism document lists Kandinsky, Dalí, Miró and Picasso. We have not checked the collection.
Food
The tourism document lists gorditas, pozole verde and enchiladas zacatecanas among the traditional dishes. We have not checked where they are served.
Culture
The same document says the city has hosted a cultural festival and an international street-theater festival, and that it held the title of American Capital of Culture in 2021. We have not checked the festival dates.
What it means for a visit
Our reading is that Zacatecas is a mining town made into a showpiece. The sources describe steep streets, a pink cathedral, a mine you can enter and a cable car over the hills. The altitude, 2,440 meters by Wikipedia’s figure, is worth planning for. We have not checked any health guidance. Check opening times for the mine, cable car and museums before you travel, because we have not.
Where sources differ, we show both: the founding date, the altitude, and the cable car route. We list them in the check file.
Roam first. Shop later.