We tell you something about the history of the city of San Luis Potosí ...
Born at a time when the search for precious minerals favored the opening of colonization in the north, the city of San Luis Potosi It became one of the most important in New Spain, despite being within a vast territory where Chichimeca groups known as Huastecos, Pames and Guachichiles were scattered.
Although the city is currently the seat of a great industrial activity, its origin and appearance are closely associated with the mining boom of the 16th and 17th centuries, since even its original name of San Luis Minas del Potosí speaks of its importance in this regard. urban layout responded to the reticular scheme of the type of checkerboard, since being installed in the plain, it did not present difficulty to execute it, so the main square was arranged on whose sides the Cathedral and the royal houses would rise, initially surrounded for twelve apples.
In the Main Square, in addition to the Cathedral, the Government Palace and the Municipal Palace stand out, the first with a neoclassical façade and the second with murals that represent biblical scenes, as well as the oldest house in the city, which belonged to Ensign Don Manuel de la Gándara, uncle of the only Mexican viceroy, with a beautiful interior patio with a typical colonial flavor. On the opposite corner of this building is the Plaza Fundadores or Plazuela de la Compañía and on its north side the current Potosina University, which was the old Jesuit college built in 1653, still showing its simple Baroque façade and its beautiful Loreto chapel. with a baroque façade and Solomonic columns.
Civil architecture exhibits special characteristics that are observed mainly on the balconies of the houses, with their ornate shelves with a great variety of shapes and motifs that seem to have been conceived by genius architects and that can be seen at every step in the buildings of the historic center. As examples we can mention the house located next to the Cathedral, which was owned by Don Manuel de Othón and which today houses the State Directorate of Tourism, as well as that of the Muriedas family on Zaragoza Street, today converted into a hotel.
