Santa Clara del Cobre

History

The Purépecha settled the Lake Pátzcuaro region from the twelfth century and were the most skilled metalworkers in Mesoamerica, making copper bells, jewelry, axes and other tools. Nearby mines such as Inguarán and Opopeo drew the Spanish. Many local people fled at first and were later coaxed back to their trades; Vasco de Quiroga granted the area's smiths the exclusive right to make cazos, the big copper cauldrons still used in Mexico, and introduced new smelting methods.

A large forge was built in 1540, placed here because the surrounding forests supplied the charcoal that smelting required. The Augustinian friar Francisco de Villafuerte obtained the founding charter in 1553 under the name Santa Clara de los Cobres. The town became the leading copper smelting center of New Spain, turning out cauldrons, stills, church bells and metal for the mint. Miguel Hidalgo served as sacristan of the parish in 1788.

Production peaked in the later nineteenth century, but fires, including one in 1910, left the town impoverished. In 1911 Salvador Escalante led an uprising here in support of Madero; the municipality still bears his name. Local artisans started a copper fair in 1946 and the craft revived, earning the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1984. The town recovered the name Santa Clara del Cobre in 1981 and became a Pueblo Mágico in 2010.