While walking through the streets of San Miguel de Allende, a radiant city of beautiful buildings and multiple archaeological vestiges, time seems to stand still.

Such is the atmosphere that surrounds this city located in the state of Guanajuato, inviting its visitors to the grandiose opportunity of going back to a rich historical past and at the same time, to appreciate the intensity of the many cultural events that make this one of the most interesting and splendid destinations in Mexico.

The power of the Toltecs resounded on this soil, where centuries later the Copuces, Guamares and Guachichiles, nomadic groups known as Chichimecas, would remain as the heirs of that glory,  who came to inhabit these lands by the 13th century for their ulterior exploitation, although always dependent on nature’s vicissitudes. Agriculture,  which was the key to the development of a society of a more elevated organizational structure, was not to manifest until the arrival of the Spanish during the times of colonization.

By 1555 King Don Luis de Velazco ordered the founding of a village that would be located halfway between the town of Zacatecas, new at that time, and Mexico City, the capital of New Spain. This village would be of great commercial profit, being the passage way for the flow of all sorts of merchandise, primarily silver coming from the north of México.

It was the village of San Miguel, known later as San Miguel el Grande, which would become a place of noticeable importance due to its location, its communication and commerce with Zacatecas or Guanajuato, but above all due to a growing industry that would bear great outcomes in years to come: the textile industry.

In the reveille of the 19th century, as city of thinkers and people willing to listen to new forms of philosophical thought, San Miguel el Grande, today Allende, would greatly develop the liberating spirit that inspired thousands of fighters to join the struggle for a new nation under the voice of Ignacio Allende, Aldama, Lanzagorta and others.

Taking a stroll through the streets of San Miguel de Allende awakens a peculiar enchantment: the main square or the Jardin Principal, known in the 16th and 17th centuries as the Plaza Parroquial, has a kiosk in the center that was built in the 50s, and beautiful big trees that attract passersbys that abandon themselves to the beauty of the surroundings. The San Miguel Arcangel Parish, is colossal in its dimensions and admirable because of its engraved stone architectural detail, and reverberates with the ringing of the church bells which sound throughout the entire region.  By 1730, the last of the three towers which highlights the refined barroque art, would be finished, and later on, by 1880, thanks to the iniciative of the Leon Bishop, Father Diez de Sollano y Davalos, the construction of the parochial tower would begin. Don Serafino Gutierrez, the person in charge of the construction site would be greatly inspired by the gothic European structures, and thanks to a collection of postcards from the old continent, designed such a unique tower, that even up to today brings San Miguel de Allende its greatest fame.

To its left stands the San Rafael Church, edified originally in 1564 to be established as a parish, also known as La Santa Escuela de Cristo during the 18th century, and which was the first building built in the Plaza. In its tower, an enormous clock watches over the passing of time, while flocks of pigeons take flight in sudden motions.
At the south-western corner of the Plaza, the house that saw the birth of the leader for independence, Ignacio Allende, on January 21, 1769, is an example of the preservation of the architecture from the 18th century.

And endless are the monuments and buildings that enclose the history of this town, and create the sensation of going back in time, which vibrate in the warm atmosphere of such an extraordinary city open to worldwide tourism. San Miguel de Allende is the gem of the state of Guanajuato, open with culture, and always generating a vibrant multicolorful scene. An unforgettable city!