"Guanajuato, capital of the state of... " a Guanajuato Travel Page by Ronald_T

Until the beginning of the 15th century, Guanajuato was home to a settlement of Otomí natives.

Note: Otomí are a Middle American Indian population living in the central plateau region of Mexico. The Otomí peoples speak at least four closely related languages, all called Otomí. A rather large number of modern Otomí no longer speak the Otomí language but continue to consider them Otomí.

Indeed, the name “Guanajuato” comes from a word in the Purepecha language, “Guanaxhuato”, meaning “hilly place of the frogs”.

The city of Guanajuato owes its foundation to the rich silver mines that discovered by the Spanish from 1548 onwards. In 1741, the city was given the title of “The Most Noble and Loyal of Santa Fe y Real de Minas de Guanajuato” and subsequently went on to become the richest city in Mexico, in the 16th century. The mining splendor of this period is reflected in the city’s magnificent religious and civil architecture.

Guanajuato boasts some of the finest examples of baroque and Churrigueresque (Spanish Rococo style in architecture, historically a late Baroque return to the aesthetics of the earlier Plateresque style) architecture in the New World, such as the Valenciana, Cata and La Compañia churches, as well as the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato.

The city is a beautiful example of the art and architecture of the age of the Viceroys and a style, which continued into the 19th century. This can be seen in magnificent neoclassical structures, including the Juárez Theatre or the La Paz Square, which is lined with some of the city’s most striking palaces, including Guanajuato’s City Hall, the Legislative Palace.