Santiago Tuxtla
| Santiago Tuxtla | ||
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| City and municipality | ||
La Cobata colossal head
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| Coordinates: 18°27′55″N 95°18′9″W / 18.46528°N 95.30250°W | ||
| Country |
 Mexico
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| State | Veracruz | |
| Government | ||
| • Municipal president | Claudia Guadalupe Acompa Islas | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 619.4 km2 (239.2 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 300 m (1,000 ft) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 15,459 (city), 56,427 (municipality) | |
| Time zone | Central Standard Time (UTC-6) | |
| • Summer (DST) | Central Daylight Time (UTC-5) | |
| Website | [http:// www.santiagotuxtla.gob.mx / Official website] | |
Santiago Tuxtla is a small city and municipality in the Los Tuxtlas region of southern Veracruz, Mexico. The area was originally part of lands granted to Hernán Cortés by the Spanish Crown in 1531. The city was founded in 1525, but it did not gain municipal status until 1932. Today, the municipality is poor and agricultural, but is home to several unique traditions such as the Santiago Tuxtla Fair and the Acarreo de Niño Dios, when images of the Child Jesus are carried in procession several times during the Christmas season. It is also home to the Museo Regional Tuxteco (Tuxtla Regional Museum) which houses much of the area’s Olmec artifacts, including a number of colossal heads and other monumental stone works. The city’s main plaza hosts the largest Olmec colossal head in Mexico, thus making it famous.
The city of Santiago Tuxtla is centered on a large square called Parque Juarez, which contains the largest of the Olmec colossal heads in Mexico, La Corbata.
The other main focus of the city center is the Museo Regional Tuxteco (Tuxtla Regional Museum). This museum was founded in 1961 to display and preserve the area’s pre Hispanic and colonial heritage, coming under the management of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in 1975. The museum building was renovated in the 2010s. The museum building is the former “municipal palace” (city hall) which was constructed in 1880 with an arched portico. Inside there are three main halls. Two of these are dedicated mostly to Olmec pieces, including colossal stone sculptures as well as some Totonac pieces, all from Veracruz. One of the most important pieces is the Hueyapan Head, a 20-ton colossal head in volcanic stone. The third hall is dedicated to pieces related to the area’s colonial history.
The city of Santiago Tuxtla is the local government for 242 communities, which combined have a territory of 619.4km2. It is mostly rural, with only three communities considered to be urban and a population density of 91.1 people per km2. 474 people are classed as living in “indigenous homes” with only 195 speaking an indigenous language.
Outside the seat, other important communities include Tres Zapotes (pop. 3,464), Tlapacoyan (2,648), Tapalapan (2,354) and Francisco I. Madero (1,863). The municipality borders the municipalities of San Andrés Tuxtla, Isla, Tlacotalpan, Saltabarranca and Ángel R. Cabada as well as the Gulf of Mexico. The government consists of a president, a syndic and five representatives for the communities of the municipality.
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Wikipedia