BENJAMIN’S INSIGHTS INTO SMA & ITS ENVIRONS
With its rich and textured history, Mexico is a natural selection for my twelfth cultural heritage trip with Studio Traveler! A relatively short plane trip away yields dramatic new landscapes and architecture for us to study and explore as we seek to gain important perspectives on the value of history and preservation.
The communities of San Miguel de Allende, Atotoniclo, and Guanajuato are inscribed in the World Heritage list for their role in the development of the Camino Real. Formally known as the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Inland Road), this road begins at the Plaza de la Constitución of Mexico City and stretches 800 miles to Taos, New Mexico. The road served as the axis of the viceroyalty of Nueva Espana and transported not only silver and gold, but also customs, religion, and military beginning in the 16th century.
Our trip will focus on two cities: San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, and a rural hamlet named Atotoniclo. Earliest settlers to New Spain focused on settling areas to the south, where fertile soil and a wetter climate fostered plantations (haciendas) of enslaved indigenous people. The discovery of silver in 1547 lured prospectors to the semiarid northern mountains around Guanajuato which in turn led to the establishment of “protective” outposts such as San Miguel, to defend the route from native people.
San Miguel will be our base. Though the city was founded to defend the Camino Real in 1555, it evolved into a production center for wool, leather, mezcales, and grains. With wealth, the city gained the status of an administrative center for politics and religion. Franciscan friars built Baroque churches in San Miguel, Guanajuato, and the small hamlet of Atotonilco to evangelize indigenous people. In addition, the Royal Hospital of San Juan de Dios was built in San Miguel between 1743-1770 and attracted a diverse population of Indians, Blacks, mestizos, and mulattos who lived in single-story houses of stone built on lots settled by 2 to 20 people, many with orchards, tanneries and shops where shoes, saddlery pieces, and other smaller factories. Water was provided from the hill called Moctezuma, which they named “El Chorro.”
With increased population and prosperity in San Miguel, additional churches were erected, including La Parroquia, San Francisco, El Oratorio, La Concepción, San Juan de Dios, Santo Domingo, Aanta Ana, and San Antonio. Three main squares with fountains were distributed around the city. San Miguel “el Grande” was renamed “de Allende” after the insurgent Ignacio Allende, born in the city in 1779.
In 1937, an American named Stirling Dickinson visited San Miguel. Enchanted by the ancient city, he co-founded the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes in a former convent. After service during World War II, he returned to San Miguel and recruited hundreds of young American veterans to study painting and sculpting under the G. I. Bill of Rights. Today, it is estimated that 10% of the population of the city is from the United States.
In 2008, San Miguel was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its intact 17th- and 18th-century center. In 2010, additional regional sites were added through inscription of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro through the region.
Atotoniclo is a fascinating hamlet located a few miles north of San Miguel. Its cobbled main street is lined with local merchants, but the centerpiece of the community is the sprawling Sanctuary of Jesus Nazareni in Atotoniclo. Erected between 1746 and 1748 on a site that native people carried out religious rites, the building is composed of romantic towers and domes. As dramatic as the exterior is, the interiors are even more splendidly expressed with popular Mexican art and statues of stone and wood. This World Heritage Listed church will be explored on our tour.
Located 50 miles northwest of San Miguel, the city of Guanajuato is among the earliest in the region, established in 1540 on the dramatically hilly lands of the Chichimecas. It is an unexpected contrast to the relatively flat grid of San Miguel. The discovery of silver in the mountains north of the city resulted in rapid population growth and new civic buildings such as churches, royal houses, alhóndigas (public granaries), colleges, hospitals, and convents. Many significant structures were influenced by European styles such as Isabelline Gothic and Spanish Baroque, often mixed with indigenous artistic elements and colors. The city gained a reputation as an urbane center during the Silver Bonanza, with a main square surrounded by beautiful buildings occupied by its wealthiest families. The city’s labor force gained specialized skills in the development of mines and tunneling, several examples of which remain in the extensive network of automobile tunnels beneath the city. Recognized to the World Heritage List since 1988, our tour will include a daytrip to explore Guanajuato.