The Museo de la Ciudad 450 was on the way to the mining tunnel entrance/exit, so that was my next stop. The entrance was $22 for 17 rooms full of exhibits!

Views of 20 de noviembre and Durango from the upstairs mezzanine:

Like a lot of colonial architecture in Mexico (I’m told), this building was constructed around a central courtyard. Unlike the courtyards at my hotel, this one was still open to the elements!

I was reminded that this city was founded in 1563! I thought that we had old cities in Canada, but Durango is 45 years older than Quebec City!

In the early days of the 17th century, Durango had 50 Spanish residents as well as 80 negroes and mulattos to serve them.

Feast your eyes on more columns and arches:

I think they have a way of covering the courtyard if they need to:

Exquisite tiling:

Looking down to 20 de noviembre:

And down again. Notice the Oxxo also has nice digs!

This traditional attire is quite my style. 🙂

I wouldn’t mind a tub like this! This is actually a movie prop.

Durango’s surroundings offer a lot of different terrains, and so the city has been used for decades for filming locations. A lot of big name U.S. and Mexican movies were filmed here, but that all ground to a halt as the drug war sank its teeth into Durango. No big Hollywood project was filmed in Durango from 2008 until Hollywood came back in 2014 to film Texas Rising, a mini-series about the creation of the Texas Rangers. Durango is happy to be entering its second golden age of filmmaking!

I found another courtyard in the museum, this one with access from the street for parking:

I would love a bedroom with one of these windows!

The final exhibit was about the birds of Durango, with all the pictures drawn by hand by an American lady. They were works of art and there was everything from ducks to birds of prey to song birds.