querétaro

Many churches and plazas, and particularly the Andadores, streets lined with houses chalked in pink and white, give distinction to Santiago de Querétaro, the 450,000-people capital of the federal state of the same name.

The historic center has been a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site since 1996. After a battle in 1531, the Spanish conquerors founded the town where formerly had been a settlement of Chichimec and Otomí Indians. Before long, mighty monasteries, churches, and monuments began to testify to the new faith of the conquerors – who believed to owe their victory to the Apostle James. Many important historic events were centered in the town. The conspirators against the Spanish crown, for instance, met here in 1810, and only one year later, Querétaro was one of the epicenters of the war for Mexican independence. The treaty to end the Mexican War was signed in the Government Palace in 1848. In 1867, Emperor Maximilian capitulated in Querétaro and was executed that same year at the Cerro de las Campanas northwest of the town. In 1917, today’s Mexican constitution was passed in Querétaro.