It is located in a natural pass that connects the Los Altos region of Jalisco to points north, and from pre-Hispanic times until the 20th century, it was a major thoroughfare for north-south travel.

Transport, along with numerous prosperous haciendas supported the economy of the area until the early 20th century, when travel patterns and the Mexican Revolution spurred its decline.

In the 1920s, it was a centre of rebellion during the Cristero War, and the town contains Mexico's only museum exclusively dedicated to this episode in history.

The image is honored with masses, processions, bullfights, cockfights, horse races, parades, cultural events and general fair rides and games.

[6] In the homes and restaurants of the area, typical dishes include corn ball soup, tamales, puchero, mole ranchero, pozole, birria, menudo and meat with a chile Colorado sauce.

The facade has two bell towers of three levels that contain Tuscan columns and entablatures with decorative scales and vegetative reliefs.

Although born in 1939, ten years after the end of the rebellion, his uncle Efren Quezada was an important leader of the movement.

It contains over 200 books about this period in Mexico's history, newspapers and magazines from the time, a collection of 2,000 photographs, and over 200 hours of recorded testimony from eyewitnesses.

[5][8] Other items in its collection include the flag of the first regiment of rebels to take up arms in Huejuquilla El Alto in 1926 and the vest of Anacleto González Flores, a moral leader of the movement from Tepatitlán (since beatified by the Church).

The Center has been involved in a number of research projects about the War including those related to the book "La Cristiada" by Editorial Clio and three videos by Enrique Krauze.

The interior contains a mural of a crucified Christ with Byzantine influence, called the Señor de la Misericordia (Lord of Mercy).

This form of interment and the dry climate of the area has produced a number of naturally occurring mummies, similar to those found in Guanajuato.

[5] The government of the municipality has been promoting the cemetery as a tourist attraction in conjunction with the Las Ánimas de la Encarnación museum.

[9][10] The museum is dedicated not only the mummies but also to the history of the cemetery as well as the region's funeral rites in general from the pre Hispanic period to the present.

One of the temporary exhibits was called "La Muerte Chiquita", consisting of photographs from an era when it was customary to record children on their deathbeds.

[3][5] The Dr. Pedro de Alba Auditorium was construction in the late 19th century by the church as a parochial school for boys.

This was the request of Cardenal Juan Sandoval and Bishop José María de la Torre from Aguascalientes, due to images of nude women according to the newspaper Reforma.

It is an eclectic design favoured in the Porfirio Díaz era covered in vaults and the tallest cupola in the municipality.

Oral tradition says that the Casas Blancas Hacienda was founded by the first Galician family to the area in 1586, headed by Captain Alonso Lorenzo de Guerra.

During the colonial period, it was part of a much larger land grant owned by the Rincón Gallardo family but it was separated out in the 19th century and sold to Nicolás Cuéllar.

It belongs to the Sierra Madre Occidental with its topography is divided into four types depending on altitude, varying from 1800 to 2200 meters above sea level.

Dominant wildlife consists of coyotes, hares, rabbits, foxes and deer, with some reptiles such as rattlesnakes and coral snakes.

The coat of arms of the municipality was designed by historian Alejandro Topete del Valle and Professor Manuel Iván Zenteno Díaz and approved in 1965.

[7] Although archaeological finds show mammoth bones and Cenozoic period plant fossils, human habitation in the area is dated to about 15,000 years ago, mostly nomads passing through.

[3] The first semi-settled peoples in the municipality area are called the Huachichiles, a hunter-gatherer group who lived between 150 and 200 Ce and were subject to a dominion based in Teocaltech.

However, because this area was part of a natural pass connecting lands north and south, it remained a heavily travelled corridor by peoples such as the Tecuexes, Guachichiles, Zacatecas and Caxcans, who were semi nomadic.

The Spanish built a road through here called the Camino de las Carretas linking Nueva Galicia to the mines and other lands to the north.

[4] In addition to the road, demands for supplies from northern mines prompted the establishment of various haciendas in the municipality area to produce crops and livestock.

The station was established in the San Miguel Hacienda in 1694 and called the Puesto del Sauz de Los Macías where there was a spring with potable water.

[4][5] The town and area's prosperity relied on the many successful haciendas, making the region a primary supplier of foodstuffs and raw materials.