Northern Mexico
Central Mexico
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Northern Mexico
Central Mexico
Southern Mexico
Varios Estados
A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999.
Campeche is the capital of the state of the same name, located on the Yucatán Peninsula on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. It is a fortified city, famous for being one of the few walled cities in the Americas that preserves its towers, bastions, and walls built for protection against pirates during the colonial era in excellent condition.
By 1517, the first Spanish explorers landed in the Mayan village of Can-Pech or Ah Kin Pech, which meant "Place of the Lord Sun Tick" in Mayan, and they named it San Lázaro. However, it wasn't until 1540 that Francisco de Montejo, the Younger, established the city.
Throughout the colonial period, it became a strategic port for New Spain, exporting products such as beeswax, dye wood, honey, salt, corn, and cotton blankets, among others.
Precisely because of its location and the wealth of its commercial exchange, it became a center for constant pirate attacks, with notable figures such as Laurent Graff or "Lorencillo," Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, and Jean Lafitte.
Campeche's fortification system is an outstanding example of military architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries. The hexagonal wall measured 2,720 meters in perimeter and consisted of eight bastions and four gates. Currently, you can admire parts of its wall, two of its gates, and seven bastions, now home to the several museums like the Xmuch'Haltún Didactic Botanical Garden, Popular Art Museum, Mayan Architecture Museum, and Mayan Culture Museum.
Inside its walls, an imposing city was built with grid-like streets, beautiful temples, squares, and elegant mansions.
Among the buildings of heritage value is the Cathedral, the recovered buildings of La Aduana, La Biblioteca and El Principal, where an attractive multimedia show takes place, and the World Heritage Park, with a light and sound show.
Historic Fortified Town of Campeche
A WALLED CITY FULL OF SURPRISES