San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

A beautiful city, especially the historic centre which has maintained its Spanish colonial layout with narrow cobblestone streets, roofs covered in red clay tile and wrought iron balconies with flowers. The facades of the buildings vary from Baroque to Neoclassical and Moorish, painted in various colours.  To walk through the city centre you could be forgiven for thinking you're in a classical village located in the middle of Spain or France, until of course you start conversing with the locals.

Located in the Central Highlands region of Chiapas, the city was founded as Villa Real de Chiapa in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos in what was called the Hueyzacatlán Valley, which means “pasture” in Nahuatl. From then on, the city went through a number of name changes: to Villa Viciosa in 1529, to Villa de San Cristóbal de los Llanos in 1531, and to Ciudad Real in 1536. It was changed to Ciudad de San Cristóbal in 1829. “de las Casas” was added in 1848 in honour of Bartolomé de las Casas. There were some modifications in the early 20th century to the name but it returned to San Cristóbal de las Casas in 1943.

While jade and Amber is located in the city region and local craftwork produces many items locally, about 600 truckloads of jade, gravel, stone and metals are exported from the city daily.

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