Editing Guanajuato (city) (section)

===Area around Plaza de la Paz, Basilica and the Legislative Palace===
[[File:과나후아토 시내에 있는 성당 Guanajuato Mexico - panoramio.jpg|left|thumb|Plaza de la Paz and the [[Basílica colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato]] (2009)]]
The center of the modern city is Plaza de la Paz (Plaza of Peace), also known as Plaza Mayor (Main Plaza). Since the colonial period, the richest of the city's families built their main homes here, along with government buildings and the parish church, now a [[basilica]]. This plaza is a garden with a sculpture of a woman representing peace; its placement here in the late 19th century caused the official name to change to Plaza de la Paz. Today, the plaza is surrounded by the basilica, other churches, and governmental and commercial buildings, many of which were once mansions.<ref name="descubre"/><ref name="rincones101">Gonzalez, p. 101</ref> Still remaining around the plaza are mansions that belonged to local nobility such as the Counts of Rul, Count of Gálvez, and the Count De los Chico. The Rul house was constructed at the end of the 18th century by architect [[Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras]]. It is noted for its inner courtyard,<ref name="mexdesgto"/> with architectural features from ancient Greece. [[Alexander von Humboldt]] stayed here in 1803. Later, the house became known as Palacio de Otero.<ref name="descubre"/> The Casa Real de Ensaye is a Baroque mansion that, on its façade, bears the first noble coat of arms granted in Guanajuato.<ref name="mexdesgto"/>

The main church of the city is [[Basílica colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato|Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato]] built between 1671 and 1696.<ref name="stampart37">Guanajuato, p. 37</ref> Overall, the church is a sober Mexican Baroque in style but there are popular elements from donations made by the area's miners, and other elements that demonstrate the influence of several of the city's rich mining nobility. The Marquis of San Clemente and Pedro Lascuráin de Retana were the current building's first patrons. Later, the Counts of Valenciana left their influence as well with the donation of a clock for one of the towers and the acquisition of relics related to a saint and martyr named Faustina obtained from the Pope. These relics are in the main altar.<ref name="rincones97">Gonzalez, p. 97</ref> The main portal is made of pink sandstone with “estipite” or inverted truncated pyramidal columns.<ref name="mexdesgto"/> The focus of the main altar is the image of Our Lady of Guanajuato (Nuestra Señora de Guanjuato), who is the patroness of the city. She was donated to the city by [[Carlos I of Spain|Carlos I]] and his son [[Felipe II of Spain|Felipe II]] in 1557.<ref name="descubre"/> In 1696, the church gained minor basilica status and full basilica status in 1957.<ref name="rincones97"/>

The Legislative Palace or state government building was the site of the Aduana or Casas Consistoriales (customs house) in the colonial period. The current building was constructed by Cecilio Luis Long in a European style popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and inaugurated in 1903.The façade has a Neoclassical portal in sandstone of colors typical of the Guanajuato area. It contains the legislative chamber called the Sala de Sessiones, decorated with 19th- and 20th-century paintings and somber furniture.<ref name="descubre"/><ref name="rincones101"/>