Enjoy an excellent weekend in the city of León, Guanajuato, where its different architectural styles, its beautiful parks and gardens, as well as its important leather production. They will conquer you!
Maria de Lourdes Alonso
After having breakfast, you can start your tour by visiting the Founders Square, named in honor of those who founded the city in 1576, a place delimited by the temple of San Sebastián to the south, to the north by the House of culture and to the east and west by two portals with semicircular arches.
Nearby you can visit the House of Culture "Diego Rivera", which was the old Mesón de las delicias, and which today houses this municipal institution. The building originally belonged to Pedro Gómez, a wealthy miner from the Real de Minas de Santa Fe de Guanajuato, and was bought by the municipal government from one of his heirs.
When leaving you will go through the Martyrs Square, framed on three of its sides by beautiful neoclassical portals, and whose name is due to the political struggles that occurred in 1946. In the center stands a kiosk with art nouveau blacksmithing, surrounded by flower boxes with colorful flowers and laurels pruned in the shape of mushrooms .
On the other side of the square is the city Hall, located in what was the large College of the Pauline Fathers, founded by the bachelor Ignacio Aguado and that from 1861 to 1867 functioned as a military barracks. The building has a three-story neoclassical façade with grooved pilasters, cornices, windows and balconies and a unique top with a small rectangular tower with a clock on each side. Inside, at the landing of the staircase and on the second floor, attractive murals by the Leonese painter Jesús Gallardo can be seen.
To get to walker May 5 you will see a neoclassical building known by the name of House of the Monas, due to the existence of two quarry caryatids (bulk sculptures) found on its façade. It is said that during the Mexican Revolution, the building served as the headquarters and headquarters of the state government of General Francisco Villa.
Moving along Pedro Romero street, you will reach the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Light, patron saint of the people of León, which began to be built in 1744 under the supervision of the Jesuit priests. This cathedral has a walled atrium in which the central door in the neoclassical style stands out, with paired columns with smooth shafts and topped by a medallion with flowerpots. It also has two towers, almost 75 m high, with three bodies each.
Nearby is the Manuel Doblado Theater, originally called the Gorostiza Theater, built between 1869 and 1880, and which has a capacity for 1500 spectators. On its side you will see the building that houses the Museum of the City, which exhibits traveling exhibitions almost all year round on painting, photography and sculpture among others.
About five blocks to the southeast is the Diocesan Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Heart, of which its neo-Gothic style and its access doors stand out, made in bronze with high reliefs that show the annunciation, the birth and the crucifixion of Jesus. Inside there is the spectacle of its almost 20 altars and huge multi-colored stained glass windows, as well as the catacombs located in the basement.
To end the tour of this day, you can walk on Belisario Domínguez street until you reach the old building of the former municipal jail, today Wigberto Jiménez Moreno Library, which also contains the offices of the Urban Development Directorate and the offices of the León Cultural Institute.
Maria de Lourdes Alonso
To start this day, we suggest you visit some of the most relevant examples of religious architecture in León, starting with the Temple of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, built of red brick and quarry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries imitating the Gothic style. Of similar importance is the Temple of Our Lady of the Angels, in baroque style, built around 1770-1780, and initially known as the Beguinage of the Holy Child of Jesus.
The last monument is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which boasts an eclectic facade of neoclassical and baroque styles, with three polygonal bodies and columns with capitals, all topped by a half dome
To continue you have two equally attractive options: visit the Leon Zoo or the Museum and Science Center "Explora", a space dedicated to children in which children can learn by playing on topics such as water, movement and space, among others. This site also has a 400 m2 Imax screen, on which educational films are projected.
Before leaving, take a walk around Temple of San Juan de Dios, a monument built in the 18th century in popular baroque style, and whose importance also lies in having been the seat of the first clock in the city, or, fill your trunk with shoes and all kinds of articles skin that are offered in the main markets and squares of this thriving city in the Mexican Bajío.
