Mystery still surrounds the fate of Villa's mortal remains. While they were supposedly dug up and ceremoniously transported to Mexico City for re-interment alongside others of the nation's Illustrious Men, local folklore insists that Villa's remains still lie buried here, the local mayor having previously moved Villas's bones a few meters from their original site, replacing them with the less illustrious bones of some anonymous commoner. Villa is reported to have said that he would never be left alone even in death and events clearly proved him right. When mining efforts in the late 1940s finally paid off, the Temple of F tima was built out of chunks of ore - gold, silver, lead, zinc, antimony, copper, manganese. Instead of pews, the congregation sits on short square pillar stools resembling claim boundary markers.
Ore pieces sparkle in the walls and pillars.
Sadly, this church is not always left open. Across the street is the Parral Cathedral, squashed into a narrow space and correspondingly disproportioned. Continuing along Hidalgo, to the left, just before the bridge, are two more superb buildings. The two-storey Casa Griesen with its balustrade is closer to Avenida Juarez. Then comes the Palacio Alvarado, constructed between 1899 and 1903.