The town seems to climb up the bare mountains.
Houses painted in bright colours, narrow streets and alleyways, small cosy plazas and colonial-style buildings give Guanajuato a charm all its own. The picturesque city and its rich cultural life make it one of the most attractive travel destinations in Mexico. Guanajuato and its silver mines are a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site.
In pre-Columbian times, the Tarasca lived in the region. They called the place where the city now stands Cuanax-huato (Hills of Frogs). The Spaniards under the command of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán took the region and settled there between 1526 and 1529. In the mid-16th century, the first silver mines were established; these were the basis of the city’s riches. In 1557, the locality was named Santa Fé y Real de Minas de Quanaxhuato, but it wasn’t until 1741 that it was designated a city. Ignacio de Allende was able to temporarily occupy the city after the Declaration of Independence in 1810, but the royalists under General Felix M. Calleja reclaimed the city in short order. In the course of the Reform War (1857–1860), Guanajuato became the capital of the Republic for a month at the beginning of 1858. During the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911) foreign capital poured into the mining businesses, and the city experienced a boom.
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