Abandoned Places in Mexico

Mexico's abandoned places span the full arc of the country's history — from pre-Columbian cities abandoned centuries before the Spanish conquest to colonial-era haciendas left behind after the Revolution, from the ghost towns of the silver mining era to the unfinished resorts of the Pacific coast. The country's extraordinary historical depth and its complex contemporary challenges have created a uniquely layered landscape of forgotten places.

The pre-Columbian ruins of Mexico represent the country's most ancient category of abandonment. Teotihuacan, the vast city north of Mexico City that was abandoned around 550 CE for reasons that remain debated, was one of the largest cities in the ancient world. Palenque in Chiapas, Monte Albán in Oaxaca, and Chichén Itzá in Yucatán all represent the extraordinary architectural achievements of pre-Columbian civilizations that were abandoned long before the Spanish arrival. These sites are now among Mexico's most visited tourist attractions, but their abandonment remains one of history's great mysteries.

The colonial-era haciendas of Mexico's interior represent a more recent category of abandonment. The vast estates built by Spanish colonists and their descendants to exploit the country's agricultural and mineral wealth were largely abandoned or destroyed during the Revolution of 1910-1920. The haciendas of the Yucatán Peninsula, built on the profits of henequen fiber production, stand in various states of preservation — some converted to luxury hotels, others slowly deteriorating in the tropical heat.

Mexico's silver mining heritage has left behind numerous ghost towns in the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosí, a silver mining town that boomed in the eighteenth century and was abandoned when the mines were flooded in the early twentieth century, has been partially revived as a tourist destination. Mineral de Pozos in Guanajuato, another abandoned mining town, has attracted artists and alternative communities who have begun to restore its historic buildings.

The country's industrial heritage includes the abandoned oil facilities of the Gulf Coast, the steel mills of Monterrey, and the maquiladora factories of the northern border region. The Pemex oil infrastructure of Tabasco and Veracruz, built during the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s, includes numerous abandoned facilities as production has declined.