Mina El Edén
A 16th-century silver and gold mine beneath Zacatecas where enslaved Indigenous laborers worked under brutal conditions, now a guided tourist mine.
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Share a photoHistory & haunting lore
Opened in 1586, Mina El Edén produced immense wealth for colonial Spain while enslaved Indigenous laborers suffered horrific conditions, with life expectancies as low as 30 years from accidents, tuberculosis, and silicosis. The mine closed in 1960 after flooding and reopened for tourism in 1975, now featuring a narrow-gauge train, a mineral museum, and an underground nightclub.
Guides recount the legend of Roque, a greedy miner said to have been trapped and turned to stone after a collapse triggered by his hoarding of gold, a folk tale told alongside the mine's very real and well-documented death toll.
Current site status
Open daily for guided tours by train or on foot from either entrance; visitors should bring warm clothing since the tunnels stay cold year-round.