This beautiful corner of the state of Zacatecas is ideal to meet and enjoy in two days. Take note of our recommendations and "capture" the mining essence of this destination with a remarkable colonial flavor.
Located in the state of Zacatecas, Fresnillo offers its visitors a host of attractions and sites of interest to make their stay a pleasant experience. It is located only 63 km northwest of the Zacatecan capital and its foundation in 1554, according to historical sources, is due to the Spanish Diego Hernández de Proaño, who discovered rich silver veins on a hill near a spring near which an ash tree grew. Years later, in this same place a small mining center was formed to exploit the mineral and by then it was known as Cerro de Proaño; This mining center was called El Fresnillo, and the Proaño veins are still in operation to this day.
Saturday
After a comfortable rest, we recommend you have a nutritious breakfast that will give you strength to get to know the downtown area of the city. To get started, you can visit the Temple of Transit and the Temple of PurificationBoth erected during the 18th century, and which constitute the most notable examples of colonial architecture in this destination.
Then you can walk through the principal garden, decorated with a kiosk right in the center and delimited by a fence with quarry balustrades, a beautiful place that invites you to rest in the shade of one of its lush trees.
Continuing with the tour, head towards the Obelisk Square, dedicated to the fight for the Independence of our country. This monument was built in 1833 and inaugurated during the administration of the President of the Republic General Antonio López de Santa Anna and the governorship of Don Francisco García Salinas.
The Obelisk of Independence has at its base a plaque engraved with some distances from Fresnillo to some relevant points. This way you will know that the distance between Fresnillo and the Greenwich Meridian is only 10,510 km, to the North Pole 7,424 km; to the Ecuador of 2 574 km; and the Tropic of Cancer 30 kilometers.
Behind this memorial is the José González Echeverría Theater, with two floors, semicircular arches guarding its access and decorating the windows of the upper level. The building is topped by a quarry balustrade and a clock right in the center of the upper facade.
If you are interested in knowing another historic building in Fresnillo, do not forget to visit the Agora González Echeverria, construction of the 19th century, which in its best times was the headquarters of the School of Mining and which currently houses the Autonomous University of Fresnillo.
To end this day, we recommend that you visit the Cerro Proaño, where the mine of the same name is located and which is the one that currently produces the largest amount of silver in the world.
Sunday
After breakfast, it is necessary that you dedicate this day to visit the famous Plateros Sanctuary, dedicated to the revered Santo Niño de Atocha, since if you don't visit it, it's as if you hadn't been to Fresnillo, or even Zacatecas.
You can start the trip by heading towards the old mine that gave rise to this prosperous mining city, and later continue towards the east in order to see the popular sculpture dedicated to all the miners, an imposing work done in bronze and that welcomes the traveler who it comes to the city from the capital of Zacatecas, since it is located right on the main access road.
The Plateros Sanctuary It is located just 5 km northwest of Fresnillo. It is an imposing building that, like most of the buildings in the city, dates from the 18th century and is dedicated to the Santo Niño de Atocha, a miraculous image of an infant that throughout the year carries thousands of pilgrims from all over Mexico. and from abroad. Although its atrium has two beautifully carved access porticoes, it lacks an atrial fence.
Its facade is beautifully worked in pink quarry and has two bell towers and an ogival portal. The interior is insufficient to house the large number of people who come to venerate the miraculous Niño del huarachito, as he is also known; It has a single nave and two transept, which, due to the crowds, is almost impossible to appreciate in all its magnitude.
Attached to the sanctuary there is a small conventual cloister in whose walls thousands of small ex-vows dedicated to the Holy Child have been accumulated, placed there in gratitude for some miracle received. If you are not going with the time cut and you are a little curious, you may well read some of the ex Vows to realize the miracles requested, as well as their date and origin.
If you want to buy a souvenir of such a miraculous sanctuary, you can buy it in the small shop of the place or in one of the many stalls on the outskirts of the temple.
On the hill just in front of the sanctuary the old chapel that originally housed the Niño de Atocha is still preserved, still visited by some faithful.
How to get
Leaving the city of Zacatecas take the federal highway Zacatecas-Cd. Juárez and after a journey of 63 km you will arrive in Fresnillo.
