Where Mexican independence was whispered and an empire was executed — a UNESCO colonial city of pink aqueduct arches, Baroque convents, and the courtyard where Maximilian I faced the firing squad in 1867
Querétaro is the capital of the state of the same name, with 1.1 million people at 1,820m in Mexico's central Bajío region. Its UNESCO World Heritage historic centre is among the most intact Baroque urban ensembles in the Americas — aqueduct, convents, plazas, and ornate facades in coherent colonial-era pink stone. The Querétaro Aqueduct (1738–1748), 1.3km of 74 arches up to 28m high, still crosses the city skyline. In the 21st century Querétaro has become one of Mexico's fastest-growing economies, with aerospace manufacturing (Bombardier, Safran, Airbus suppliers) alongside its traditional c…
Founded 1531, Querétaro's central role in Mexican history came twice: in 1810, Doña Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez (La Corregidora) tipped off Father Miguel Hidalgo about the government's discovery of their independence conspiracy — triggering the Grito de Independencia and the Mexican War of Independence. In 1867, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico was captured and executed by republican firing squad on the Cerro de las Campanas on 19 June 1867 — the event immortalised in Édouard Manet's 'The Execution of Maximilian.' The 1917 Mexican Constitution, still in force today, was drafted and signed here.