Instituto Allende
Place Category: Community and Places to Visit
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The picturesque Instituto Allende has been drawing art students to San Miguel de Allende for more than 50 years. Originally built in 1736 as the home of the noble Condes de la Canal family, the sprawling campus became an art and language school more than two centuries later. When the institute opened in 1951, American veterans flocked to the mountainside town after learning that the Insituto Allende qualified for study under the GI Bill. It wasn’t long before word of the beautiful aesthetics spread and aspiring artists were heading to the school in droves.
Located less than half a mile southwest of the city center, the Instituto Allende is open to all travelers looking to take workshops, explore the property and peer into galleries. You’ll find plenty of open space on campus in the form of parks and gardens, as well as artsy cafes and restaurants. One recent TripAdvisor reviewer described the atmosphere as full of “beautiful architecture, meandering passages, galleries, a nice cafe, and an amazing view of the Parroquia from the back patio.”
The campus is open to visitors on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visiting the school is free, but art workshops can cost up to 3,800 MXN (about $290 USD) for three- or four-week courses. One-day workshops in things like clay modeling, photography and painting are available for $95 to $105 USD, depending on the course. For more information, visit the school’s website.
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Don Domingo Gomez de la Canal, a very wealthy Spaniard, arrived in New Spain at the end of the 17th century. His firstborn son, Manuel Tomas, Count of la Canal, Knight of the Royal Order of Calatrava, was born in México City in 1701 and while still a young man decided to make San Miguel his home. He and his wife built houses, convents, roads and churches. Their primary residence was the large building on the northwest corner of the Jardin that is now Banamex (with the huge carved doors on Canal Street). The building that is now called the Instituto Allende (and much of the land that surrounds it, which is now used for other purposes) was their “summer home,” originally built in 1734. In 1951, Enrique Fernández, former governor of the State of Guanajuato, became the owner of the building and he collaborated with American expat Stirling Dickinson and Felipe Cossío del Pomar to move the Bellas Artes school of art to this location. The school became one the most important factors in the renewal of San Miguel, drawing people from around the world. The building is now home to a handful of art galleries and two restaurants. There is a small family chapel, and a mural painted by David Leonardas in 1999 titled “Ignacio Allende and the History of Mexico.” For a better idea of the vastness of the Canal’s former estate, visit the small language school next door to the Instituto Allende (go behind the lobby and up a small set of stairs and you’ll see the vast grounds that once were all part of the Canal estate).