Taxco Silversmiths — Sacred Conspiracy

Taxco was reborn in 1931 when William Spratling, an Auburn-trained American architect, settled in this colonial Guerrero town to revive the Mexican silver industry. His house-workshop, transformed into a museum in 1992, still houses his collection of silver art objects that revolutionized local craftsmanship. Here you discover the techniques he taught indigenous silversmiths, blending pre-Columbian motifs with modern American design.

Calle de la Platería takes its name in homage to the plateros that Spratling trained in the 1930s. This emblematic street in the historic center now concentrates the silversmith workshops that are heirs to this artisanal renaissance. Each shop window tells the evolution of Mexican silver art, from the first Spratling creations to contemporary innovations by masters like Artemio Navarrete.

Plaza Borda honors José de la Borda, an 18th-century silver miner who made his fortune in local mines and financed the construction of Santa Prisca cathedral between 1751 and 1758. This French patron established Taxco as the colonial silver capital, two centuries before Spratling made it the center of modern Mexican silverwork.

The Parroquia de Santa Prisca y San Sebastián, erected by Borda in honor of his patron saint, raises its two 16-meter baroque towers at the city's heart. Its sculpted facades and ornate niches testify to the wealth that silver brought to Taxco since colonial times. Alexander von Humboldt, who stayed in 1803 in the house that now bears his name, documented this mining prosperity in his travel accounts.

Your journey through this Pacific South Pueblo Mágico reveals how Taxco unites 500 years of Mexican silver history: from Borda's colonial mines to contemporary workshops born from Spratling's vision. Between the Mercado de Artesanías and Casa Humboldt, you take away understanding of a living heritage where pre-Columbian art still dialogues with modern innovation.