Por: Alfonso Valente Ruiz Jacobo
Jalisco
The state of Jalisco is in the western part of the country. It has an area of 80,137 km ², which represents 4.09% of the total area of Mexico. It borders the state of Nayarit to the northwest, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes to the north, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí to the east and Colima and Michoacán to the south. To the west, Jalisco has a significant coastline on the Pacific Ocean.
San Juan de los Lagos
San Juan de los Lagos is located in North Altos region of Jalisco, northeast of the state, at coordinates 21 º 04 '25'' to 21 º 24' 50'' north latitude and 102 º 06 '40'' to 102 º 10' 30'' west longitude, at an altitude of 1,750 meters above sea level. It limits the north with the municipalities of Teocaltiche and Encarnacion de Diaz, south Jalostotitlán, San Miguel el Alto, San Julian and San Antonio Union, east with Lagos de Moreno, Union of San Antonio and west with Teocaltiche and Jalostotitlán.
Travel Experiences
I went to San Juan de los Lagos with some of my family in the fall of
2006 I stayed one day and it was the first time I went to visit San Juan de los
Lagos. Just visited few places, because we did not have much time to spend
there. I went to the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, to see the
image of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos. I watched everything I could in the short time we had. I was also looking at the stalls and steep streets that cost me a little up, but not down. Also, I went to try the delicious
CAJETA preparing there. The weather is a bit warm due to the geographical
elevation. While I spend the little time I was there.
Things to do in San Juan de los Lagos
Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan. Municipal Palace the eighteenth
century, Plaza de Armas , Calvary Temple , Temple of the Lord of the Five
wounds , Parish of St. John the Baptist Chapel The Virgin Pocito ; Post Office
building ; parish of the Blood of Christ Culture House “Idolina Gaona de Cosio”;
Cihuapilli Museum , the Meson de la Virgen ( current school " Rita Perez de
Moreno" ) Hospital Dr. Manuel Montero , Chapel Child Peanut , Calvary
Chapel , temple of the Third Order , Chapel of the First Miracle and watch the
chapel.
Sites of major interest
·
Basilica of Our Lady of San
Juan de los Lagos: Is the great religious seat of the municipality and the
second most visited after the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The
Basilica “Sanctuary of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos" Cathedral is
the most representative of the municipality building and the headquarters of
the world famous Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos , whom thousands of pilgrims
arrive annually to visit originating in very different sites. Eighteenth century,
its pink stone facade is Baroque with two slender towers and scored three parts,
in which pairs of Tuscan columns and cornices moves are observed, as well as
geometric and anthropomorphic reliefs. Its construction began in 1732 and was
until 1790 when the work was completed. Inside the ship beautiful stained glass
windows and paintings on the pendentives of the dome are seen , the main
altarpiece is quarried , neoclassical , with cypress center housing the image
of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos ; in the sacristy there are oil
paintings and carved wooden furniture and inlaid . The entire interior has a
rich golden decoration on the capitals, pilasters, cypress and other ornamental
elements, besides being one of the most visited churches in Mexico, also one of
the most beautiful and respected.
·
Chapel of the First Miracle:
Dedicated as the name says to worship the First Miracle of Our Lady of San Juan
de los Lagos, it is also a beautiful temple quarry. Built in the eighteenth century,
this magnificent religious building shows a sober stone facade with a tower of
a body that boasts magnificent Corinthian columns and a decorative vegetable
carvings. The cover is of a body and has a round arch framed in stone , in its
upper part has niches containing religious and attached to the Chapel
sculptures, the imposing facade of the former hospital, whose cover is clearly
highlighted a lintel and key in relief. The interior of the chapel is a single
nave with a flat roof, which boasts a Baroque altarpiece front in white quarry
where Solomonic columns support the entablature and a semicircular pediment
decoration is simple, with statues of saints on the walls. In the sacristy are
two paintings alluding to the first miracle of the Virgin of San Juan de los
Lagos, with a text that describes oil.
·
Cihuapilli Museum: An
enclosure where hundreds of related highlights of the Virgin of San Juan de los
Lagos exposed objects. Museum of Sacred Art of the Cathedral, opened the first
of August 2004, to commemorate the centenary of the Coronation of the Virgin,
consisting of 25 small rooms ranging from pre-Hispanic times to the present day,
reviewing outstanding stories and facts about devotion to Our Lady of San Juan
de los Lagos, from War to Mixtón Cristera Gesta and of course, the visit of his
Holiness John Paul II. Visit provides an insight into the world of devotion to
the Virgin and the sizing not only religious but social and historical
importance it has had for the Municipality.
·
St. John the Baptist Parish:
In addition to its beauty, it is an important religious grounds for being the
second shrine erected to the Virgin. Its construction began in 1653 by order of
His Excellency Bishop Dr. Ruiz Colmenares and finished 40 years later. It was
the second image Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan and in 1769 was changed to the
current image. Retains the original pink stone facade and has an altarpiece in
its portico topped by a pediment with a niche. Two towers in pink and purple
bell tower in the quarry with three Renaissance levels are found. The interior
has three naves covered by ribbed vaults in stone, supported by arches. In the
chancel is an original altarpiece quarry with four columns of compound capital,
with gold bezels holding a baroque pediment topped by the sculpture of San Juan
Bautista.
·
House of Culture “Idolina
Gaona de Cosio” culture has its history, its construction and style and also,
in their current roles as a local cultural center. This beautiful house dating
from the eighteenth century was the first office of the western zone, where the
first religious altercation took place, resulting dead Lt. Mark Coit federal
army (the Black Panther), also served as home diocese and housed federal
offices from 1935 to 1990. The construction is of Spanish Baroque style. The
facade is made of pink stone and rajuelada abode with cornices and polished
frames richly decorated. The main two pilasters framing the portico whose
frieze is decorated with plant motif key and a crowning a balcony and a door
frame having carved frieze in the key of an angel and a niche that has twisted
columns at the sides. It has two balconies with decorated frames quarry and
Baroque elements, where the indigenous hand notes. At the top of a cornice
topped spiral and gargoyles. Among the activities that are offered are: guitar lessons,
music, painting, dance and theater, language classes, computer, etc. . . . Open
daily from 9:00 to 16:30.
Basic information about traveling to San Juan de los Lagos
