Saltillo is the capital city of the northestern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name.
As of 2003, Saltillo had an estimated population of 591,000 people, rising to 637,000 if the full Metropolitan Area is considered, making it the 20th biggest metro area in the country. The metro area is composed of Saltillo, Ramos Arizpe, and Arteaga.
GeographyEl Cerro del Pueblo [The Hill of the City] and its 4 meter cross overlook the city. The city's elevation is 1600 meters, making it cooler and windier than its neighbor city, Monterrey. Saltillo lies near the city of Arteaga and near the Chihuahan Desert.
GovernmentThe city of Saltillo is the municipal seat of the municipality of Saltillo. The current municipal president is Fernando de las Fuentes from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who will remain in office until 2009.
EconomySaltillo's most famous exports are Saltillo tile and the locally woven multi-coloured sarapes. There is also the automotive industry, with two major assembly plants (one General Motors and the other DaimlerChrysler, with a second DaimlerChrysler plant pending), two engine facilities and a car transmissions plant. Saltillo is home to the Grupo Industrial Saltillo, an important manufacturing conglomerate that makes home appliances, silverware, and auto parts. Some criticism has been made of this new urbanization and the lack of conservation and planning.
During the early 20th Century, Saltillo was called the Athens of Mexico because of its number of famous intellectuals. Nowadays, it is considered the Detroit of Mexico because of the importance of its automotive industry, including the huge Daimler-Chrysler and General Motors plants.
Saltillo is a sister city of Austin, Texas, as well as of other 15 cities in several countries.
Points of interestAlameda Zaragoza is the largest park in the city and has an artificial lake with the shape of the Mexican Republic.
The old core of the city is built in pink marble, giving Saltillo's architecture a distinctive flavour. Prominent buildings are the Cathedral, the Palacio de Gobierno (state government building), the Ateneo Fuente and the Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo. The large Cathedral is the best example of colonial religious architecture in northeastern Mexico; its facade is mainly Spanish Baroque, with less exuberant areas.
The city has two world-class museums: the Museo de las Aves de Mexico (Bird Museum) [1], featuring a collection of bird specimens from all over Mexico in realistic displays, and the Museo del Desierto (Desert Museum) [2]. This last museum focuses on the geography, geology, paleontology (with dinosaur fossils) and biodiversity of the Chihuahuan desert, and the history and culture of the local people through time. It includes a cactus greenhouse and exhibits, with dozens of species. A small area that has gained fame due to the fact that they have found fossil remains of turtles, mollusks and sharks, as well as other remains, which are believed to belong to the hadrosaurus and Tyrannosaurus-rex families, is Called Rincon Colorado, and is located some 20km west on federal highway 40 near the village of General Cepeda. A museum is located inside the Paleontological Reserve Area which exhibits the discoveries. Several international hotels, shopping centers and chain stores (HEB, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Home Depot) serve the metro area.
EducationSaltillo's main universities are the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, the Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo, the Tec de Monterrey Saltillo Campus, El Instituto de Filologia Hispanica, and the Universidad Autonoma Agraria Antonio Narro.
TransportationSaltillo Metropolitan Area air traffic is served by Plan de Guadalupe International Airport. It takes 15 minutes to get from downtown Saltillo to the airport. It has several flights per day to Mexico City and a daily flight to Houston, Texas. There is a comprehensive bus system in Saltillo along with many taxis.
