A Place Where the Land Meets the Sky and Explodes in Colour
This bright, charming, colourful, and vivacious town can be found tucked away in the highlands of central Mexico. It is a place where Mexicans and world travellers mix and intermingle with ease, a place where the famous buenos dias (good morning) is still chimed by all. San Miguel is one of the few remaining towns that represents all that is traditionally Mexican. It is a town that seems to emerge out of time, a place that has seen no change since the 16th century.
San Miguel de Allende was founded in 1542 by a Franciscan monk, Fray Juan de San Miguel. There were actually two settlements founded by Fray Juan. The first called, San Miguel Viejo, was where he first settled among the local tribe, the Chichimecas. Water, however, became scarce, so while on one of his daily walks, he came across what is now known as the famous park El Chorro. He moved his settlement here and called it San Miguel el Grande.
San Miguel later became a favoured travelling stop for gold and silver miners who came from the North, travelling toward Mexico City. Soon San Miguel became a popular commercial area for surrounding towns and villages. Wealthy traders began to come in and they built large haciendas, where cattle and livestock grew. Other products became popular trades as well, things like machetes, woven goods, leather, and other products. Soon San Miguel was a strong local trading area.
When the mining industry diminished in the area, San Miguel de Allende began to fade into time. People forgot it was there, buildings were left standing and abandoned. Time stopped for San Miguel when it was no longer used as a stopping point between mining areas and Mexico City. There was no new growth, but nothing was destroyed either. It remained, timelessly standing as an original Colonial Mexican City, forgotten by all. Finally in the early 1900s it was declared one of the great National Historic cities in the country. Because of this, and the protection the Mexican government has given San Miguel de Allende, it still remains much as it was in the 18th century.
Churches that were built by colonial wealth are today, in their original state. These include ¨Las Monjas¨ which is still run by the nuns, San Juan de Dios, and La Salud. Today these remnants of a bygone era of wealth and splendour are still standing. They stand as monuments to an era, where buildings were lovingly created and sculpted by hand from natural stone, and earthen products. These buildings stand as monuments to local family heritage, art and culture. The Canal house is now a bank, the Umaran family home, the famous Casa Allende, now a museum. In fact most of the homes in the downtown area date back well over two hundred years.
In the 1920s San Miguel began to attract many foreign writers and artists from all over the world; so much so that in the early 1930s, the famous Instituto Allende, Art School was founded by the American, Stirling Dickenson, which brought more tourism and more foreign visitors. Although the city continues to grow and there are all the modern amenities you could ever want, its historic qualities and architectural designs remain in tact. Modern buildings and signs are forbidden. Any new building must follow strict construction guidelines, to adhere to the historic theme of the city.
The city still looks as it did in the 16th century. It has an old world style with everything including the cobblestone streets. There are only two traffic lights in the entire town, and those are on the outskirts.
Tourism is a major industry for San Miguel de Allende and many visitors return to live there. Currently there are around 10,000 expatriates from other countries who now live rich, interesting and colorful lives in a close, interesting and entertaining community in San Miguel de Allende. If you are looking to see the traditional Mexico, with everything including its religious festivities which date back to the early 1500s, then this is the place you want to visit. 
