Since 1979, the Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera Museum has offered city visitors a place full of greenery and color complemented by magnificent colonial architecture.

The museum invites visitors to relax in an atmosphere of beauty and tradition. Originally known as the Ex-Hacienda de Barrera Grande, the hacienda extends over 22,000 square meters (237,000 square ft.). The original entrance was the bridge over the Guanajuato River.

At the close of the 17th century, Captain Gabriel de la Barrera founded the Barrera family dynasty, and with it, a series of haciendas and ore-concentrating mills that would carry the family name: Hacienda de Barrera Grande, Hacienda de Barrera en Medio, Hacienda de San Antonio de Barrera, Hacienda de Dolores and Hacienda de Sacramento.

The inside of the hacienda is divided into three parts: the first was formerly the house proper, as well as offices and recreational spaces, now all part of the Museum. The second part was where religious services were held. Here, one finds a small chapel featuring a 15th century Spanish altarpiece. The third and last section was a work area, and included areas where the precious ore was extracted, storage rooms, aqueducts, water wheels, tanks, and horse stables.

The areas once used in the extraction of ore have been replaced with seventeen beautiful gardens, each one unique.

Over the centuries, ownership of the hacienda passed from hand to hand. In 1947, the last private owner, Mrs. Elsa Bas de Armida oversaw the transformation of the old hacienda into what we see today. And in the year 1975, the Guanajuato State Government acquired ownership of the hacienda.

This was without a doubt the most important of all the nearby haciendas, and is today the most beautiful, a fact which its many visitors attest to year after year.

Today, the hacienda offers a number of services, such as: use of the gardens for all kinds of events, a Cafe-bar and the hacienda craft shop.