Charcas

San Luis Potosi - Capital

This was a frontier post. First attempts to found a town were thwarted by bands of wild natives. When Charcas was successfully refounded in 1584, the war-weary victors received land for mining and cattle ranching. They constructed not only a Franciscan church (1574) but also a fort.

Today few old buildings survive but the town's irregular streets, narrow alleyways and small plazas evoke its humble origins. The old granary is now part of a school. The eighteenth century parish church houses a statue, more than four hundred years old, of the Virgin of Charcas.