Ex-hacienda de San Gabriel de Barrera

One day we took a taxi to this intriguing place on the outskirts of the city. I didn't really have any expectations, which made "finding" this cool place thrilling. After the constant flow of people and cars in downtown Guanajuato, the quiet and green of this huge estate here were a complete shock.

The hacienda belonged to one of the first gold mining barons, Barrera, who built towering brick structures to clean the ore from his mines. After amassing a huge fortune, he began work on the house, grounds, and chapel, which is literally coated in gold. When the hacienda was taken over by new owners following the Independence, they decided to create 17 gardens in between the brick walls of the mining areas. The gardens are gorgeous and ornate, each of them with a different theme: Spanish, Baroque, Italian, Moroccan, English, etc.


I loved the Roman garden

Cool tile work

The hideous gold chapel