Ixcateopan de Cuauhtémoc

A town paved in marble

Ixcateopan de Cuauhtémoc — usually just Ixcateopan — is a town in the state of Guerrero, in southern Mexico, near Taxco de Alarcón and about 181 kilometres from Mexico City. In 2023 it was named a 'Pueblo Mágico', in recognition of its distinctive streets paved with marble and cut stone.

An ancient settlement

The known constructions in the town belong to the Postclassic period, built roughly between 1350 and 1450 AD. Ixcateopan was drawn into the orbit of the Mexica (Aztec) empire in the 15th century, becoming part of a tributary province and serving as a frontier against the Purépecha to the west. Its Nahuatl name means, in one reading, 'in the temple of cotton'.

The legend of Cuauhtémoc's tomb

Ixcateopan is best known for a claim tied to Mexican identity: in the church-museum of Santa María de la Asunción, tradition holds that the remains of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor and a national hero, are buried. The bones were announced in 1949, but their authenticity has been disputed by historians and specialists, and the question remains unresolved. Whatever the verdict, the shrine has made the town a place of pilgrimage and national memory.

Visiting

Visitors come for the marble streets, the colonial church and its museum, and the mountain setting a short drive from the silver town of Taxco.

• Location: Ixcateopan, state of Guerrero, Mexico (near Taxco)

• Distinction: 'Pueblo Mágico' (2023); streets paved in marble

• Claim to fame: Church-museum said by tradition to hold Cuauhtémoc's tomb (authenticity disputed)

• History: Postclassic settlement (c. 1350–1450), later a Mexica tributary town

• Visiting: Colonial church and museum; combined with a trip to Taxco