Mexico Guide
Northern Jalisco and Michoacán
Tzintzuntzán
The remains of TZINTZUNTZÁN (daily 9am–5.30pm; M$33), ancient capital of the Tarascans, lie 15km north of Pátzcuaro on the road to Quiroga. The site was established around the end of the fourteenth century, when the capital was moved from Pátzcuaro, and by the time of the Conquest the Spanish estimated that there were as many as 40,000 people living here, with dominion over all of what is now Michoacán and large parts of the modern states of Jalisco and Colima. Homes and markets, as well as the palaces of the rulers, lay around the raised ceremonial centre, but all that can be seen today is the artificial terrace that supported the great religious buildings (yácatas), and the partly restored ruins of these temples.
Even if you do no more than pass by on the road, you can't fail to be struck by the scale of these buildings and by their semi-circular design, a startling contrast to the rigid, right-angled formality adhered to by almost every other major pre-Hispanic culture in Mexico. Climb up to the terrace and you'll find five yácatas, of which four have been partly rebuilt. Each was originally some 15m high, tapering in steps from a broad base to a walkway along the top less than 2m wide. Devoid of ornamentation, the yácatas are in fact piles of flat rocks, held in by retaining walls and then faced in smooth, close-fitting volcanic stone. The terrace, which was originally approached up a broad ceremonial ramp or stairway on the side furthest from the water, affords magnificent views across the lake and the present-day village of Tzintzuntzán. Tzintzuntzán means "place of the hummingbirds"; you're unlikely to see one nowadays, but the theory is that there were plenty of them around until the Tarascans – who used the feathers to make ornaments – hunted them to the point of extinction. The ruins are around 1km from the village and are signposted "Zona Arqueológica" up a side road.
Down in the village, which has a reputation for producing and selling some of the region's best ceramics, you'll find what's left of the enormous Franciscan Monastery founded around 1530 to convert the Tarascans. Much of this has been demolished, and the rest substantially rebuilt, but there remains a fine Baroque Templo de San Francisco and a huge atrium where the indigenous people would gather for sermons. Vasco de Quiroga originally intended to base his diocese here, but eventually decided that Pátzcuaro had the better location and a more constant supply of water. He did leave one unusual legacy, though: the olive trees planted around the monastery are probably the oldest in Mexico, since settlers were banned from cultivating olives in order to protect the farmers back in Spain. The broad, veined trunks certainly look their age, and several only have a few living branches sprouting from apparently dead trees.
Tzintzuntzán has several good fiestas. The best are a week-long one starting on February 1, and Semana Santa (the week before Easter Sunday), when the Thursday sees the ceremony of Washing the Apostles' Feet, followed on Good Friday by further scenes from Christ's Passion acted out around town.