Editing Aguascalientes (city) (section)

==Culture and recreation==
[[File:Interior del Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Aguascalientes.jpg|left|thumb|Government Palace: a forest of columns, carved arches and imperial stairs.]][[File:Hotel Fiesta Americana. Aguascalientes - panoramio.jpg|thumb|260x260px|[[Feria Nacional de San Marcos|San Marcos Fair]] corridor.]]Aguascalientes houses the largest festival held in Mexico, the [[San Marcos Fair]], which takes place from the middle of April to the beginning of May. The celebration was held originally in the San Marcos church, neighborhood, and its magnificent neoclassical garden; since then, it has greatly expanded to cover a huge area of exposition spaces, bullrings, nightclubs, theaters, performance stages, theme parks, hotels, convention centers, and other attractions. It attracts almost 7 million visitors to Aguascalientes every year.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The old part of the city revolves around downtown and the four original neighborhoods from which the city expanded. The most notable building here is the Baroque Government Palace, dating from 1664 and constructed out of red volcanic stone; it is known for its one hundred arches. The prominent Baroque Cathedral, begun in 1575, is the oldest building in the city. The tall column in the center of the main square dates from colonial times; it held a statue of a Spain's viceroy, which was toppled when the country gained independence; the current sculpture on its summit commemorates Mexican independence.
[[File:Fachada del Templo del Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Aguascalientes, Ags..jpg|left|thumb|[[New Spanish Baroque|Novohispanic Baroque]] façade of the Guadalupe Church]]

===Neighborhoods and tradition===
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2023}}
The city of Aguascalientes is made up of four traditional neighborhoods, all of which grew up around the central Plaza de la Patria; Guadalupe, San Marcos, El Encino and La Estación.

Guadalupe neighborhood, a traditional producer of pottery, centers around its local church.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Located in the heart of Guadalupe, this religious sanctuary, the second most important in the city and dating back to the late 18th century{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}, has a Baroque façade and a large dome covered in traditional ''talavera'' tiles. Inside it has many flower and angel motifs.

The next is San Marcos, founded in 1604 and once home to natives of Tlaxcala state who fled persecution. Today, the area hosts the traditional San Marcos Fair in springtime. There is San Marcos Gardens, a green spot where paths and trees are abundant. The gardens are traditionally frequented by poets, artists and lovers. Directly in front of the gardens is the Baroque San Marcos Temple, its tiled dome glinting in the sun.

The neighborhood of La Estación takes its name from the old railway station, inaugurated in 1911 and one of Aguascalientes' architectural and historical treasures.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Aguascalientes historic downtown is home to several museums including the [[Aguascalientes Museum]] ({{Lang|es|Museo de Aguascalientes}}), the city's art museum, housed in a Classical-style building designed by the self-trained architect [[Refugio Reyes Rivas|Refugio Reyes]]; the [[Guadalupe Posada Museum]] ({{Lang|es|Museo Guadalupe Posada}}), located in the historic nationhood of Triana, exhibits the life and work of [[José Guadalupe Posada]]; and the State History Museum, which is housed in an elegant [[Art Nouveau]] mansion typical of the Porfirian period with and ornate patio and dining room with vegetable motifs in a Mediterranean style, with a French Academism façade, and interior columns and an arcade of pink stone characteristic of Porfirian Eclecticism.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Other designs by [[Refugio Reyes Rivas|Refugio Reyes]] include the Paris Hotel, the Francia Hotel, and his masterpiece, the Church of San Antonio. The Church of our Lady of Guadalupe possesses an extraordinarily exuberant Baroque facade designed by [[José de Alcibar|José de Alcíbar]], a renowned architect of the period considered to be one of the most famous artists in Mexico in the 1770s.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} The Camarin of the Immaculate in the church of San Diego is considered by historians to be the last Baroque building in the world; it links the Baroque and Neoclassical styles; it is the largest of the fewer than ten of these type of structures built in the whole continent.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

[[File:Teatro Morelos - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Morelos Theater. It hosted the [[Convention of Aguascalientes|Revolutionary Convention of Aguascalientes]] of 1914.]]
Aguascalientes is also home to some of the country's leading provincial theaters. Examples are the Morelos Theater, historically important for its role during the [[Mexican Revolution]] as a convention site; architecturally, the building is notable for its facade and interior, which houses a small museum. The [[Teatro Aguascalientes]] is the city's premier theatre and opera house.

In addition, in the modern section of the city, the [[Museo Descubre]] astonishes as an interactive museum of science and technology. It also features an IMAX screen. The [[Museum of Contemporary Art (Aguascalientes)|Museum of Contemporary Art]] is the city's art museum.

The gothic structure of the Los Arquitos cultural center used to be one of the first bathhouses in the city, declared a historic monument in 1990. The Ojocaliente is also an original bathhouse still in use today, and fed with thermal springs.
La Estacion Historic Area (The Old Train Station Complex) contains the [[Old Train Station and Railway Museum]] historic complex, which at some point in 1884 formed the largest rail hub and warehouses in all Latin America. The complex is adorned with dancing fountains, a railway plaza and original locomotives and monuments. It was in this complex that the first locomotive completely manufactured in Mexico was made. It symbolizes the progress of the city and its transformation from the rural to an emergent industrial economy. The rail factories supplied with railways and locomotives to whole of Mexico and Central America. The Train Station is also historic due to its unusual (for Mexico) English architectural style. The Alameda avenue, the railway hangars, the factory complexes, and its surrounding housing have been proposed to be placed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.