Sanctórum

Sanctórum is the seat of the municipality of Sanctórum de Lázaro Cárdenas, at the far western edge of Tlaxcala near the borders with Hidalgo and Puebla. It sits at about 2,740 m, and the 2020 census counted 5,259 people. Before the Spanish arrived the place was called Tzacualtitla, "among or in an enclosed place", one of the most populous settlements on the slopes of San Nicolás hill; the present Latin name refers to All Saints. It is not the Sanctorum in Cuautlancingo, Puebla.

Unlike the rest of Tlaxcala, this area answered to Texcoco: in colonial times Sanctórum was one of the congregations under Calpulalpan, later part of the Texcoco district and of the State of Mexico, until the Calpulalpan region joined Tlaxcala. Its people followed the insurgent Mariano Aldama in the War of Independence. In 1917 they petitioned for the return of land taken by the haciendas of San Nicolás el Grande, Ixtafiayuca and La Concepción Axolotepec; Obregón granted them 663 hectares in 1921 and Lázaro Cárdenas's government enlarged the ejido in the 1930s with land planted in pulque agave. The free municipality was created on 21 May 1935 under the name General Lázaro Cárdenas, after the president of the day.

Today the town is known in the region for its fireworks, as well as tissue-paper hot-air balloons and kites. The main square has a bandstand and the clock-towered town hall; the 19th-century Candelaria church has a red and white façade with two towers and a bell gable, and the church of Guadalupe, from the 18th and 19th centuries, has three-tier towers on bases of xalnene stone and a tiled dome. The Virgin of Candelaria is celebrated on 2 February. At carnival the dance troupes perform French quadrilles from Sunday morning to Tuesday night in frock coats, top hats and wooden masks, ending with a dance in the zócalo. Its height gives views in every direction; the best known spot is La Hoyanca, good for walking.