Church of la Valenciana

5km/3mi from Guanajuato on the Dolores Hidalgo road stands the church of La Valenciana or San Cayetano, built by the Conde de Valenciana. Antonio Obregón y Alcocer, owner of the famous silver-mine of La Valenciana.

The church, built in pink cantera stone and consecrated in 1788, represents the great final period of the Mexican "Ultra-Baroque". It has only one of the intended two towers, the other not having been built. The façade is in late Churrigueresque style, while the windows along the sides have Neo-Mudéjar arches. Particularly attractive is the side doorway into the church from the garden, with an elaborately stuccoed and decorated scallop-shell and a statue of St Joseph. The church contains three splendid Churriguresque retablos, partly gilded and partly polychrome. Note also the fine intarsia work of ivory and precious woods on the pulpit. Another striking feature is the doorway into the sacristy, with a carved stone lambrequin above the Mudéjar arch. The arches are particularly elegant, with their bands of intricate ornamentation in tezontle stone.