Aguascalientes is one of Mexico's smallest and most industrialized states, a compact highland territory in the country's central Bajio region. Named for its thermal hot springs, it centers on the historic, walkable capital of the same name, famous for the exuberant Feria Nacional de San Marcos, Baroque colonial architecture, and the legacy of Day-of-the-Dead cartoonist Jose Guadalupe Posada. Beyond the capital, the state offers the Pueblos Magicos of Real de Asientos and Calvillo, an emerging wine region, and a strong charreria and rodeo tradition.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped Aguascalientes.
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1
Silver Mining Begins at Asientos
Spanish prospectors begin working silver deposits in the hills that become Real de Asientos, a settlement that predates the founding of Aguascalientes city by nearly three decades
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2
Founding of the Villa de la Asunción de las Aguas Calientes
The viceregal government establishes a garrison settlement beside a hot spring to protect caravans on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro from Chichimeca raids, giving rise to the city of Aguascalientes
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3
Camino Real Way-Station Consolidates
Aguascalientes solidifies its role as a fortified stop on the silver route linking the Zacatecas mines to Mexico City, with haciendas and presidios spreading across the surrounding plain
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4
Intendencia Administration
Aguascalientes is placed under the Intendencia of Zacatecas as part of the Bourbon reorganization of New Spain's territories
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5
Aguascalientes Becomes a Separate State
Aguascalientes is definitively separated from Zacatecas and constituted as its own state within the Mexican federation
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6
Railway Arrives
The Mexican Central Railway reaches Aguascalientes and establishes major repair workshops in the city, transforming it into a national rail hub and driving industrial and textile growth
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7
Convención de Aguascalientes
Revolutionary factions led by Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Venustiano Carranza's delegates meet at Teatro Morelos from October 10 to November 9, attempting to unify the Mexican Revolution's fractured leadership after the fall of Victoriano Huerta
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8
First Feria Nacional de San Marcos Radio Broadcasts
The already-established San Marcos spring fair grows into a nationally promoted event, cementing Aguascalientes' identity around the annual celebration
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9
Nissan Establishes Mexican Manufacturing
Nissan begins automobile production in Mexico, the first Nissan manufacturing operation outside Japan, laying the groundwork for the company's later expansion into Aguascalientes
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10
Nissan Opens Its Aguascalientes Complex
Nissan inaugurates a components and stamping plant in Aguascalientes, expanding into full vehicle assembly by 1992 and anchoring the state's modern automotive-industry economy
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11
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Inscribed by UNESCO
UNESCO inscribes the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro as a World Heritage Site, including the historic center of Aguascalientes city and nearby haciendas among the route's protected sections
Historical sites
Places where Aguascalientes's past comes alive.
Teatro Morelos (Museo de Sitio de la Soberana Convención de 1914)
Built between 1883 and 1885 as the city's main theater, Teatro Morelos hosted the Soberana Convención Revolucionaria from October 10 to November 9, 1914, when delegates loyal to Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Venustiano Carranza gathered in an attempt to reunify the Mexican Revolution's competing factions. The upper floor now houses a small site museum on the Convention.
Where: Aguascalientes City
Admission: $20 MXN (approx $1.18 USD); reduced rates for students and teachers
Templo y Exconvento de San Diego
Established by Barefoot Carmelites from 1640 and transferred to the Franciscan order in 1661, this is one of the oldest religious complexes in the city; its temple was completed in 1682 and its former convent later became the region's first agricultural school and, in 1973, a founding building of the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes.
Where: Aguascalientes City
Admission: Free
Real de Asientos Historic Mining Town
Founded around 1548 as a silver camp, Real de Asientos predates the city of Aguascalientes by nearly three decades and grew into a fortified stop on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road linking the Zacatecas silver mines to Mexico City. Declared a Pueblo Mágico in 2006, its steep colonial streets and old mine workings still trace the town's mining-era layout.
Where: Asientos Municipality
Admission: Free to walk the town
Museo Ferrocarrilero de Aguascalientes
Housed in the restored 19th-century train station where the Mexican Central Railway built major repair workshops after reaching the city in 1884, this museum documents how the railway turned Aguascalientes into a national industrial and transport hub, displaying period locomotives and rolling stock.
Where: Aguascalientes City - Barrio de la Estación
Admission: $20 MXN (approx $1.18 USD); reduced rates for children
Centro Cultural Los Arquitos (former Ojocaliente bathhouse)
Constructed in 1821 as the city's first public bathhouse fed by the Ojocaliente thermal springs that gave Aguascalientes its name ('hot waters'), the arched brick building stands beside the historic aqueduct that once distributed the springs across the city and has operated as a cultural center since 1994.
Where: Aguascalientes City - Barrio La Purísima
Admission: Free
Casa de la Cultura Víctor Sandoval
A restored colonial-era mansion in the historic center, converted into a public cultural institution that preserves the architectural character of Aguascalientes' 18th and 19th-century residential quarter while hosting exhibitions and community workshops.
Where: Aguascalientes City
Admission: Free
Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
Built mostly through the 18th century on the site of a modest chapel raised soon after the 1575 founding of the Villa de la Asunción de las Aguas Calientes, the basilica cathedral has stood at the center of the city's civic and religious life for nearly three centuries and holds colonial-era paintings attributed to Miguel Cabrera.
Where: Aguascalientes City
Admission: Free
Palacio de Gobierno (Barra Cunningham Murals)
Occupying a former 17th-century hacienda building with arcaded courtyards, the state government palace was decorated between 1961 and 1991 with five frescoes by Chilean muralist Oswaldo Barra Cunningham narrating the state's history, including panels on the San Marcos Fair and the 1914 Convención de Aguascalientes.
Where: Aguascalientes City
Admission: Free
Museo José Guadalupe Posada
Set in the artist's home neighborhood of Barrio del Encino, this museum preserves prints, engraving plates and personal items of José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913), the Aguascalientes-born printmaker whose satirical calavera engravings became a defining image of Mexican popular culture and later influenced the country's Day of the Dead iconography.
Where: Aguascalientes City - Barrio del Encino
Admission: $20 MXN (approx $1.18 USD); free on Wednesdays