It was constructed as homage to the first centennial of the Mexican Independence. By a decree from the authorities that intended that the chimes of the clock should be heard from all over the City, it was placed on a tower 40 metres high. Furthermore, to help to accomplish that end, the dome was covered with thick copper plaques.
The tower shows a neoclassical style. Its four sides are identical and present arches, columns and a beautiful Mexican eagle framed by Pre-Hispanic fretworks. On its third level stand out the Italian marble statues representing Liberty, Independence, the Constitution and the Reform.
The construction funds were raised, mostly, by British mining companies that worked during those times in the State of Hidalgo. As an anecdotic fact, the clock was produced by the same company that made the emblematic Big Ben clock in London.
It is situated in the Independencia Square, in the historical centre
of
Pachuca.
- Casa Rule - House, its simplistic and austere
façade contrasts with the ampleness of its interior halls and staircases,
but above all, with its conceited corridors that exhibit an exquisite
decoration, proper of the mansions that once belonged to the rich
miners of
Pachuca. Showing a Victorian style and
comprising beautiful stained glass windows, the house enhances the
beauty of the urban scenery of the City since 1880, when it was
the residence of Francisco Rule, a man whose wealth was due to the
mining activity.
The mansion shows two levels in a good state of preservation. The access way to the first story is decorated with relieves and supported by decorated pilasters. In the upper floor there is a showy central window and a balcony secluded by a mullion, showing on its upper part a pediment crowned by a marine shell.
The authorities of the Hidalgo state acquired the property in 1942 to transform it into the Government Hall, a condition that was maintained until 1971, when the building was handed over to the Superior Courtroom of Justice. Since 1985 it is the seat to the Town's Hall. It is located in Leandro Valle y Morelos Street, at the North side of the Pedro M. Anaya Square.
- The Templo y ex Convento de San Francisco Church and former
Convent, hold valuable oil paintings belonging to the 18th
century, an impressive altarpiece in a churrigueresque style, and
a lavatory done in fine glazed tile work with a zoo-morphed jet,
are only some of the most notable treasures that the visitor will
be able to watch in this baroque styled magnificent architectonic
building.
It was erected between the years of 1596 and 1660, under the surveillance of Fray Francisco de Torantos. Through the passing of the centuries, its original design has endured several changes, reshaping works that have not diminished its former beauty. In the present times, its cloisters -located in the Hidalgo Street at the corner with the Arista Street, in the Colonia Centro- accommodate museums and exhibit halls.
The Museo de Fotografia - Photographic Museum is
a world of frozen images and magical moments captured for eternity.
Happiness and sadness, contemporary occurrences, historical feats
captured with sepia tonalities, black and white and also in full
colour.
A patchwork from an epoch, pieces entangled together to create a jigsaw-puzzle that mimics the shapes of reality, a reality that depicts the past, present and future, and that became true starting from the day that men discovered the procedures that enabled him to capture pictures through photography.
The halls of this Museum explain the physic and chemistry grounds upon which the photographic art is based. They show the evolution of the cameras since its invention, and explain the advances concerning the developing techniques, along with an exhibition of images that portray the Mexican society viewed from different angles.
- The Fototeca Nacional National Photo Library,
it stands out as the photographic memory of the Country. Its archives shelter 160 years of history displayed in 900 thousand images, cherishing as its main treasure, the archives that belong to the Casarola brothers, who portrayed the Mexican society in the first half of the twentieth century.
Above all, we can point out the pictures of Emiliano Zapata and Francisco "Pancho" Villa, to mention only two of the portrayed characters, besides the takes that depict scenes from the Mexican Revolution, elementary to comprehend the history of a Nation.
Inaugurated in 1976, its acclimatized vaults preserve from daguerreotypes -images captured by silver plaques in dark rooms- to the contemporary photographs.
- The Centro Cultural Hidalgo del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia
The Hidalgo Cultural Centre Belonging to The National Institute
of Anthropology and History (INAH), which halls synthesize
the history of the State of Hidalgo, through a series of exhibits
that allow the visitor to discover the historical roots of this
area of Mexico and to understand its struggles, its problems
and the essence of a Nation.
The Centre was created in the decade of the eighties, due to the concern of the State government that summoned the experts from the INAH with the aim of the arranging of its exhibitions and the installation of its archaeological, historical and ethnographical halls, by means of depicting the evolutionary history of Hidalgo.
The seat of the museum is an attraction by itself. Its façade is covered by pink and white carved quarry stone. Its front shows a semi-circular arch that frames a wooden door embedded into a neoclassical façade; while two quarry stone well carved columns guard the visitors' entrance.
In 1991 its installations were re-structured, thus creating a new concept for displaying its collections. Its new museum layout was so effective that it was awarded an international prize.
