Patzcuaro

Pátzcuaro stands above the southern shore of the lake that bears its name, in the heartland of the Purépecha. Tradition remembers it as an early centre of their kingdom, associated with the ruler Tariácuri. Its name has been interpreted as the place of temples, recalling the sacred buildings that marked the lakeside landscape.

After the Spanish conquest, Vasco de Quiroga, the first bishop of Michoacán, made Pátzcuaro his seat in 1540. He founded the College of San Nicolás and planned an ambitious cathedral with five naves converging on a central altar. The city became a religious and political centre of the province, though the cathedral project was never completed as originally intended. In 1580 the civil and ecclesiastical authorities moved to Valladolid. Pátzcuaro nevertheless remained a centre of the lake communities and a place closely associated with the memory of Quiroga.