Hidalgo Del Parral

Introducing Hidalgo Del Parral

Parral is a pleasantly mellow little town (its courteous drivers even come to complete halts for pedestrians!) with some good museums and unique churches. Its biggest claim to fame is that it’s the town where Pancho Villa was murdered on July 20, 1923, and buried with 30, 000 attending his funeral. Soon after his burial, his corpse was beheaded by unknown raiders, and in 1976 his body was moved to Mexico City.

Founded as a mining settlement in 1631, the town took the Hidalgo tag later but is still commonly called just Parral. Throughout the 17th century, enslaved indigenous people mined the rich veins of silver, copper, quartz, lead and other valuable minerals from La Prieta mine, the installations of which still loom above town.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009