In the municipality of El Oro, Estado de Mexico, is a unique museum that through an integrated collection of photographs, minerals, maps, tools and machinery, tells the story of the bonanza mining occurred in Mexico.

In this chamber are preserved the photographic memory of this people in its heyday, minerals, and machinery used in extracting gold, silver and zinc

This is the Mining Museum, which occupies the premises of what was mine "Providence", which produced gold ore to the first third of the twentieth century. Its purpose is to represent the life of a people through an economic activity, such as mining, as well as show the different minerals from the region and state.

Gold was founded in 1772 by the first discoverers of the rich veins of the coveted metal in the area. Their fine gold mines were considered the second richest in the world, but compared to the Transvaal in Africa.

The mining boom caused a significant migration to the population, who achieved great fame in his heyday, this was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when rich deposits were discovered in most other precious metals.

The director of the Museum of Mining, Azucena Mendoza said in an interview that for almost 200 years, worked the mines to extract gold and silver by Spanish and British companies.

"Upon completion of these, in 1974 the townspeople decide to keep the memory of this region and create the museum in what were the facilities that belonged to the British company first and then to the Cooperativa Minera Two Stars, which ran until 1960. The museum opened in September 1975 with photographs showing what it was mining in the municipality. "

The museum site is located at the mouth of the mine "Providence", which grew to a depth of 300 meters, at various levels.

The mine which was mined gold and silver, began operating in early twentieth century and stopped working in 1960.

"The vocation of the exhibition is to show visitors the history of more than 200 years of mining through photographs, plans, tools, machinery and minerals that are mined in this area.

Retain the hoist facilities, compressors, offices were used to pay the miners and the green areas covering about two hectares, "said the director.

The Museum's collection consists of 250 mineral mining and little more than 200 pieces, including photographs, maps and tools. Its five permanent exhibition rooms have an approximate area of 500 square meters, which are visited by people of all ages.

It is important to remember that gold is one of 17 House Peoples Bicentennial that the state government of Mexico has been charged with promoting tourist destinations of the entity. It has an impressive history about its development thanks to the mining industry in the late nineteenth century. One attraction of this place is the architectural richness of some of its buildings reflect the prosperity of this town like the Teatro Juárez and the city hall, same as conspicuous by its exquisite decor, pertaining to the Art Nouveau style English and French neoclassical era.

"I believe that every municipality in the Mexican Republic has a little history.

Fortunately for us we had a very important, and since Mexico has many natural resources, I think people should know this little town is now almost trades in livestock and know that had its good times and reached to be a cosmopolitan city, "said Azucena Mendoza. The Mining Museum depends Mexiquense Institute of Culture since 2001.

Their hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00 and Sundays and holidays from 10:00 to 15:00. To reach this place you should take Highway 55, heading Atlacomulco and then travel on State Highway 5 in the direction of El Oro