The largest of these is the San Mateo monastery complex, which includes a church dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi (Third Order).

The interior contains a number of valuable paintings along with a main altar topped by an imaged of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

[5] The La Soledad Church dates from the 18th century, distinguished by its Moorish bell tower and Churrigueresque facade.

It contains exhibits that recount the economic, social and cultural development of the region beginning with the pre-Hispanic period.

Other important streams are Grande-Las Adjuntas, El Pino-Linares, Los Mimbres, La Guera-Espiritu, Santo Loberos, San Juan, Milpillas, Zaragoza, Las Varas, Charco Blanco, La Batea, El Salto and Peñuelitos.

The main bodies of water are Charco Blanco, Dolores, Santiago, San Ignacio and La Honda.

[3] Sombrerete is one of the most traditional municipalities in Mexico, with much of the social calendar related to religious events.

[5] Local saints' days are popular festivities in the municipality, generally celebrated with religious rites, traditional dance and food and carnival rides.

One of the local images is the Señor de los Trabajos (Our Lord of Work), said to aid in the defense impossible situations.

Unique to Sombrerete is a street food called brujitas, fried turnovers made with thick corn dough and filled with beans or shredded meat.

Pan ranchero is a bread made with lard, baked in an adobe, brick or mud oven, most often prepared for Holy Week.

[3] The earliest known culture of this region was that of the Chalchihuites, which existed from the late Pre-classic to about 900 AD, and was mostly sedentary and agricultural.

It is not known why the settlements of this area were abandoned, but theories center on climate change, attacks from nomadic peoples and the fall of the large cities of the central valleys of Mesoamerica.

[3] In 1555, nine years after discovering silver in what is now the city of Zacatecas, Juan de Tolosa and a small group of Spaniards and allied indigenous arrived to find more.

[3][4][5] The importance of the town of Sombrerete grew in the 17th century, with the establishment of a Royal House to collect taxes from as far as Chihuahua and Sinaloa.

[3][4] During the Mexican War of Independence a number of the miners sent financial support to the insurgents, especially to Guadalupe Victoria.

The area remained politically important during the 19th century, but suffered an attack by Apaches from the United States in 1845.

During the French Intervention and Reform War, it was the provisional capital of Zacatecas, with Benito Juárez passing through in 1866.

The war brought attacks on both haciendas and mines, which deteriorated the economy even though the town was made a provisional capital of Zacatecas from 1913 and 1914, with a visit from Venustiano Carranza.