Hacienda de Ciénega Grande

Ciénega Grande is a village a few kilometers southeast of Real de Asientos, and with Tepezalá and El Cuicillo it counts among the first settlements in what is now Aguascalientes. It began in the 16th century as a presidio, a small fortified post that protected and sheltered travelers and mule trains on the royal road to the silver mines of Zacatecas.

In the early 18th century the Larrañaga family turned it into a prosperous hacienda that combined farming and ranching with the processing of ore from the mines of Asientos and Tepezalá. It later belonged to the Jesuits, and after their expulsion from New Spain it passed to new owners such as the Rul and Rangel families. At the end of the 19th century the hacienda gave land for a railway station, called San Gil, on the line from Aguascalientes to San Luis Potosí; it was later used to ship ore to the great smelter in Aguascalientes city.

The old hacienda buildings stand at the back of the village, across an access bridge. It is a quiet stop for anyone interested in the mining and hacienda history of the region; ask locally which parts can be visited.