San Miguel de Allende.- At least since last Tuesday, the closure of the Cañada de la Virgen archaeological zone in San Miguel de Allende has been announced.
They reported that it lacks permits to carry out tourist tours, and these are suspended until further notice, confirmed the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
Guillermo González León, who last December assumed the direction of the INAH Guanajuato Center, reported that the reason for the temporary closure of Cañada de la Virgen San Miguel de Allende is due to an issue of land expropriation, although he asked AM to wait for the positioning of central offices, since there is a legal process underway.
The area corresponds to a pre-Hispanic settlement of Hñahñu (Otomí) origin, with its apogee between 600 and 900 A.D., located in the Mesoamerican Epiclassic. As an archaeological zone, it was inaugurated in February 2011.
Closure announced on social networks
It was on the 10th that the state government, through the Ministry of Culture, reported the closure through its social networks and asked for the understanding of visitors and citizens.
It is reported that for reasons beyond the control of the Ministry of Culture of the State of Guanajuato and, derived from legal actions being carried out by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, in the archaeological zone Cañada de la Virgen, at this time it is not possible to carry out tours (in the place) until further notice.”
In an information sheet, he added that public visits to the site remain on pause as part of the current provisions of protection and heritage management, in charge of the INAH, the authority responsible for these federal heritage assets.
The Secretariat commented that there is institutional coordination and permanent accompaniment, and that it will timely disseminate the corresponding updates through official channels.
Cañada de la Virgen is the third most visited archaeological site in Guanajuato. In 2025 it registered 4,841 visits, although at the time of its inauguration it was said that it was expected to summon 31 thousand visitors per year.
By decree
On December 31, 2025, the presidential decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation expropriating “for reasons of public utility” an area of more than 700 hectares, corresponding to a privately owned property within the polygonal area of the Cañada de la Virgen Archaeological Monuments Zone, located in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende.
According to the description, the area will be used for the “research, protection, conservation, restoration and recovery of the Cañada de la Virgen Archaeological Monuments Zone“, as part of Claudia Sheinbaum’s government commitments, within the “Recovery of historical memory“.
Although he is not mentioned in the decree, it is known that the German citizen Regina Thomas von Bohlen was the owner of part of the land adjacent to this archaeological site
Source: AM
