Page 22 - Eternal San Miguel de Allende

In 1927, three friends touring Mexico had great impact on San Miguel de Allende. The Peruvian artist, Alfonso Reyes; the intellectual, Jose Vasconcelos; along with diplomat-in-exile, Felipe Cossío del Pomar, encountered the ‘ghost town’ of San Miguel de Allende and fell in love with the ‘quality of light’.
Following a dream some ten years later, Cossío del Pomar, along with former governor of Guanajuato, Enrique Fernández Martínez, and an American, Sterling Dickenson, founded the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes on the premises of a former convent.
The Bella Artes art school became a new engine in San Miguel de Allende that generated international awareness of the town. In the 1930’s, Americans and Canadians became enchanted by San Miguel de Allende, which continues to this day. It became a popular yet sleepy hub of artists and ex-pats. In Anita Brenner’s excellent guide book, ‘Your Mexican Holiday’ (1932), the entry for San Miguel de Allende is as follows:
‘Not often visited by tourists, yet it is one of the loveliest classic colonial towns in Mexico —note particularly the fine doors.’
Tourists now visit more than ever, and those doors are still being noted. They’re usually one of the first things visitors are impressed by.
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