Guanajuato has narrow, winding, steep cobblestone streets, sometimes pieced out by stone steps, and the ground underneath is honeycombed with silver-mine shafts. Its geographic position and economic importance as one of Spanish America’s chief silver-producing centers gave the city a key role in the wars and revolutions that wracked Mexico in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Guanajuato has become a tourist center. There are several noteworthy colonial churches and buildings, including the Alhondiga de Granaditas, originally a granary that was besieged and captured (1810) by Hidalgo y Costilla at the outset of the war against Spain.

Guanajuato is a national monument and a UNESCO World Heritage site.