Taxco, town, southern Mexico, in Guerrero State. Various metals (silver, iron, copper, manganese, lead, and zinc) and semiprecious gemstones (agate, amethyst, and malachite) are mined nearby. The town's principal manufactures are silver jewelry and handicrafts. Textiles, furniture, and wood and tin products are also produced here. A leading tourist resort, Taxco is especially noted for its preserved and restored 17th- and 18th-century colonial buildings; it was designated a national monument in 1928. Much frequented by artists, the town has a school of arts, many historic town houses, and the baroque Santa Prisca Church. Fiestas are held throughout the year. The original Tlachco, a Native American settlement and mining town dating from the 15th century, was nearby to the southeast; the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés established the new silver-mining center in the 1520s. After 1717 Taxco became a leading silver center. The town is officially named Taxco de Alarcón; it was also formerly called Tasco. Population (1995) 95,144.
