Celaya, Mexico
Tourism

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squares as well as some fine examples of Baroque and Neo-Classical architecture.

History

Founded in 1570 by sixteen families from the Basque country, Celaya (Basque: "zalaya" 5 "lowland") was granted full civic status in the mid 17th c. Its most famous son, Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras (1759-1833), was a man of many parts, an architect, artist and poet of distinction. Like most of Guanajuato's cities, Celaya played a leading role in the Mexican War of Independence (1810-21) and it was here in 1915, during the Revolution, that the bloodiest battle in Mexican history was fought, in which the future president, Alvaro Obregón, finally succeeded in defeating Francisco ("Pancho") Villa.

The main, arcade-surrounded square (Plaza Principal, Jardín) has recently been embellished with a new town hall (Palacio Municipal).

The nearby Plaza de Armas contains three buildings of note, Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras's monument to Mexican Independence (Monumento a la Independencia) and two churches, the Iglesia de la Tercer Orden (Church of the Third Order) and Iglesia de la Cruz (Church of the Cross).

The façade, towers and high altar of the 17th c. church of San Francisco, on the corner of Miguel Doblado and Guadalupe Victoria streets, are also examples of Tresguerras's work, he having been responsible for their redesign.