The city of San Miguel de Allende, located in the northern part of the state of Guanajuato, is one of the most beautiful places in the Mexican Republic.
Surrounded by farms and productive ranches, the city is an oasis in the middle of a magnificent semi-desert landscape. Its large houses and churches are a sample of the importance that this city had in the time of the viceroyalty. In the halls of some of these mansions the country's war of independence was forged. The conspirators took advantage of the gatherings, where they met to organize the uprising. Among these men were Don Ignacio de Allende, the Aldama brothers, Don Francisco Lanzagorta and many other San Miguel residents who have gone down in history as heroes of Mexico.
San Miguel el Grande, San Miguel de los Chichimecas, Izcuinapan, as it was previously called, was founded in 1542 by Fray Juan de San Miguel, of the Franciscan order, in a place near the La Laja river, a few kilometers below where it was currently found. Eleven years later, due to the attacks of the Chichimecas, it moved to the hillside where it now sits, next to the springs of El Chorro, which have supplied the city since its foundation until a few years ago. Now they have been exhausted by the excessive drilling of wells around them.
The eighteenth century was the time of splendor of San Miguel, and its mark has remained on every street, in every house, in every corner. Wealth and good taste are reflected in all its contours. The Colegio de San Francisco de Sales, a building that is now abandoned, was considered at the time as important as the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. The Palacio del Mayorazgo de la Canal, which is currently the seat of a bank, represents a transitional style between the Baroque and the Neoclassical, inspired by the French and Italian palaces of the 16th century, fashion of the late 18th century. It is the most important civil building in this region. The Concepción Convent, founded by a member of this same De la Canal family, with its impressive large patio, is now an art school, and the church of the same name has important paintings and a low choir that is fully preserved , with its magnificent baroque altar.
After Independence, San Miguel was left in a lethargy in which it seemed that time was not passing over him, agriculture was ruined and its decline made many of its inhabitants abandon it. Later, with the Revolution of 1910, there was another rout and abandonment of ranches and houses. However, many old families still live here; Despite the vicissitudes and bad times, our grandparents did not lose their roots.
It is not until the 1940s when this place regains its popularity and is recognized by locals and strangers for its unique beauty and lordship, for its mild climate, for the great quality of life it offers. The houses are restored without altering their style and adapt to modern life. Countless foreigners, in love with this way of life, emigrate from their countries and come to settle here. Art schools with recognized teachers (among them Siqueiros and Chávez Morado) and language schools are founded. The National Institute of Fine Arts forms a cultural center in a former convent, with unsuspected success. Concerts, music festivals and conferences of the best quality that one can find are organized, as well as a bilingual library -which is the second in importance in the country- and a historical museum in which was the home of the hero Ignacio de Allende. Hotels and restaurants of all kinds and prices proliferate; hot water spas, discos and shops with various merchandise and a golf club. The local crafts are tin, brass, paper mache, blown glass. All of this is exported abroad and has brought prosperity to the city again.
Real estate has gone through the roof; the latest crises have not affected them, and it is one of the few places in Mexico where property rises every day with impressive steps. One of the phrases that do not fail the outsiders who visit us is: "If you know of a cheap ruin, of those abandoned houses that must be out there, let me know." What they don't know is that the “ruinita” can cost them more than a house in Mexico City.
Despite this, San Miguel still retains that provincial charm that we all seek. Civil society has been very concerned about taking care of its "people", its architecture, its cobbled streets, which give it that aspect of peace and prevent cars from running recklessly, its vegetation, which has still deteriorated, and what more importantly, their way of life, the freedom to choose the type of life that you want, be it the peace of yesteryear, the life between art and culture, or that of a society engaged in cocktails, parties, concerts.
Whether it is the life of youth between nightclubs, discos and revelry or the demure and religious life of our grandmothers, which although it seems strange, one finds it from time to time when leaving prayer or in its multiple processions and religious festivities. San Miguel is a city of “parties” and rockets, of drumming and bugles all year round, of feathered dancers in the main square, of parades, of bullfights, of music of all kinds. Many foreigners and many Mexicans live here who emigrated from the big cities seeking a better quality of life, and many San Miguel residents live here that when they ask us: “How long have you been here?”, We proudly answer: “Here? Maybe more than two hundred years. Always, maybe ”.
