Just an hour's drive from Guanajuato City, the town of San Miguel de Allende dates from 1542. San Miguel offers the visitor a nostalgic vision of a Mexico of singular beauty and distinction, so much so that the town in its entirety has been declared a National Monument. An intelligent sensitivity regarding quality of life in San Miguel has meant the careful conservation of the town's charming architecture and cobblestone streets, as well as its culture and traditions.

Behind the rows of antique doors hide the beautiful colonial patios of a vast array of quality hotels and international restaurants. San Miguel is a refuge for talented artists from all over Mexico and overseas, who exhibit their work in its many galleries, as well as for multitudes of international travelers, drawn by the town's unique aura. The visitors, the colonial architecture and the bustling atmosphere of its streets all combine to give San Miguel a truly cosmopolitan air. The city is one great, magnificent bazaar of galleries, and arts and crafts stores nestled among the imposing buildings of the Viceroyal (Colonial) period such as the house of the Conde de la Canal, the Allende Museum, the church of the Immaculate Conception and the Saint Felipe Neri Oratory.

San Miguel's main square is home to the stately parish church of Saint Michael Archangel, just a few steps from the Nigromante Cultural Center, the Allende Institute and the church of Saint Francis. Renowned for quality of its national and international restaurants and the splendid surroundings of its places of relaxation, the square's atmosphere is made even richer by annual chamber music and jazz festivals as well as a fair for brass work and woolen products. In the evening, the cafes, bars, haute-cuisine restaurants and unique nightspots blend into the beautiful streets of this cosmopolitan town and San Miguel comes alive. The city becomes a place of magical entertainment where enjoying a candlelit dinner to live musical accompaniment then going dancing till dawn is just one of the wonderful choices on offer in marvelous San Miguel de Allende.

Only 20 minutes from San Miguel de Allende, on the freeway to Dolores Hidalgo, is the Atotonilco Sanctuary. Dating from the 18^th century, the building housed the standard of the Virgin of Guadalupe that Father Miguel Hidalgo adopted as his army's banner. Dedicated to Jesus of Nazareth, this house of prayer and atonement possesses some admirable examples of frescos on a religious theme. Strikingly situated in a semi-desert landscape, with only a few rocky paths leading up to it, the sanctuary evokes the feeling of encroaching on some ascetic's retreat. Its high walls and imposing earth-colored dome make a dramatic contrast with the intense blue of the local sky, while inside, the tempera murals lining the meandering passages with depictions of numberless characters from the past are examples of the potential of "naïve" art in the hands of a master. During more than 30 years of intense labor, Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre created a series of works that are unique in terms of their interpretative value and use of symbolism within the constraints of the form.