Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – It’s Official! The monumental Catrina of Puerto Vallarta, the main attraction of the 2022 Day of the Dead Festival in our municipality, established a new Guinness World Record with 22.67 meters in height, surpassing the 18.77 meters of the mark held by Zapotlanejo, Jalisco since 2015.
The measurement of the monolithic Catrina took place on Wednesday, November 2 at 9:30 pm, and was led by the representative of Guinness World Records, Alfredo Arista Rueda. A team of measurement experts used a drone to certify and endorse the win, which was witnessed by José Arce Aréchiga, president of the College of Civil Engineers of the Jalisco Coast and Master in Evaluation, Eng. César Bernal Santana.
Last week, reports of a larger Catrina in Veracruz circulated on social media networks but, since Puerto Vallarta’s was the only one that registered to compete for the world record on this date, and was the only one that met all of the requirements established by Guinness to be considered for the largest Catrina in the world, the Veracruz version was not eligible for the world record.
Among other rules, the sculpture had to have proportional dimensions, that is, be a large version in all dimensions of a normal-sized Catrina sculpture. Additionally, designs had to be proposed and pre-approved by Guinness World Records before the sculpture was created.
“After collecting the pertinent and exact evidence, we are pleased to report that as of today, Puerto Vallarta is officially amazing,” said Arista Rueda, who presented the award to Mayor Luis Alberto Michel Rodríguez (a.k.a. Profe Michel).
“Yes, it was possible, we achieved the world record, Puerto Vallarta continues to be distinguished by the things we are doing every day!”, the mayor expressed enthusiastically. He pointed out that Puerto Vallarta, one of the three most important tourist destinations in the country, has something new to brag about, and announced that next year he will seek to beat this record.
During his acceptance speech, Profe Michel recognized the great work in the artistic design of La Catrina Monumental by Alondra Muca, who is also proudly from Vallarta, as well as the work of all those who were involved to achieve this result.
Previously, recognitions were given to those who made the elaboration of the Catrina possible, led by the general coordinator Juan Ernesto Navarro Salcedo, as well as to the artists who made murals in the pantheons 5 de Diciembre and Los Ramblases, represented by Jaime Barajas.
The program for the main day of the Day of the Dead Festival closed with a pyromusical show and a videomapping with a theme alluding to this date, and Los Tenores de Vallarta also performed.