Teaching School of Guanajuato

With its full name—Benemérita y Centenaria Escuela Normal Oficial de Guanajuato (Commendable and Centenary Official Teaching School of Guanajuato)—being a mouthful, the Teaching School of Guanajuato certainly lives up to its robust namesake. 

The school’s building is located on Paseo de la Presa, an avenue connecting Central Guanajuato to its eastern dams, known for its French-influenced mansions constructed during the Porfiriato period. During the 1910s, the building was occupied by the College of Saint Francis Xavier, and in the 1940s by the Belén Civil Hospital.

Comprised mostly of Cantera stone common to this area of Mexico (pink Cantera in this case), the building was granted to the state’s teaching school in 1953, which lacked a permanent building. As an institution, the school’s history dates back to 1827, when Carlos Montes de Oca, the first state governor of Guanajuato, established it for educating and training the state’s teachers. 

With Guanajuato’s long history of legends and hauntings, it should be of no surprise the building is said to be the site of countless paranormal phenomena. Students here have long reported inexplicable events, and the building also hosts Día de Muertos tours and events.