Chilpancingo
Mezcala Bridge, Autopista del Sol
The city of Chilpancingo is the capital of the Mexican state of Guerrero. It is located in the mountainous highlands at 17º 33′ N, 99º 30′ W, at an altitude of over 1,300 meters above sea level. It lies 284 km south of Mexico City and 129 km NNE of Acapulco and is accessible via Federal Highway 95 as well as 95D, which is the toll version known as the “Autopista del Sol” that runs between Cuernavaca, Morelos and Acapulco.
The toll road was competed in 1993 and boasts of five large bridges, four of which are suspension bridges. The longest and tallest is the Puente Mezcala Solidaridad located at km 221 of the highway. It spans the Rio Balsas (also known as the Mezcala) which is one of Mexico’s major river systems, measures 160 meters in height (one of Latin America’s highest) and is 911 meters long. The center span is 311 meters in length.
Festivals and Traditions of the city
Chilpancingo - From the Autopista del Sol (photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mitrush)
Chilpancingo’s most noted festivals fall on the feast days of San Antonio, June 13th; on the Day of the Virgin Santa Maria of the Assumption on August 15th; and from the Christmas/New Year holidays through to Three Kings day on January 6th, all of which are celebrated with religious masses as well as exhibitions of regional dances and cuisine (pozole, or hominy soup; pickled pigs feet, pork mole, and quesadillas, among many other dishes). Regional dances are many and can be seen particularly over the end-of-year festivities. Some of these are the dances of Los Diablos, Los Pescados, Los Moros, Los Conejos and Los Tlacololeros
Nearby villages are noted for the crafting of hand-made, two-faced masks and the manufacture of a variety of wooden furniture.
Points and information of interest
There are various historical monuments around town honoring outstanding citizens of the state, including statues of General Nicolás Bravo, Vicente Guerrero; Hermenegildo Galeana; General Lázaro Cárdenas; and the bust of Margarito Damián Vargas, distinguished local musician and poet.
Templo de Santa María de la Asunción
Church built in the middle of the 16th C.
Museum Nacional de Guerrero (Guerrero National Museum, or Regional Museum)
This building was used as by General Morelos as his headquarters and it was here that he wrote and signed the famed “Sentimientos de la Nacion” (The Sentiments of a Nation) which emphasized the needs in the nation for freedom and human rights, and which is considered an important precursor to the Mexican Constitution. A very extensive mural representing the history of Mexico and the state of Guerrero is depicted in the halls of the museum
Chilpancingo coat-of-arms
The Palacio Municipal (City Hall) and other public buildings display several paintings and murals of key moments of history that were played out in the area of Chilpancingo and the State of Guerrero.
Other tourist destinations in the state of Guerrero are Acapulco and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo on the Pacific coast, and Taxco, an important historical and silver mining center, in the interior highlands of the Sierra Madre Occidental.
The State Government building is located at:
Palacio de Gobierno
Boulevard René Juárez #62, Col. de los Servicios, Chilpancingo, Gro. |
Telephone: (747) 471.9700
Official site of the city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero (in Spanish)
