San Ángel

San Ángel is a neighborhood (colonia) in the borough (delegación) of Álvaro Obregón in the Mexican Federal District.

Ex convent of El Carmen

The historic neighborhood of San Ángel lies to the southwest of Mexico City in the delegación (borough) of Álvaro Obregón, whose namesake was assassinated here in 1928. Its wistful name originated in the times of the founding of the Carmelite college during the 17th century, established here to take advantage of a location ideally suited to quiet meditation and the contemplation of nature. The temperate climate, abundance of water, and the rich, firm subsoil also encouraged the growth of a once-famous orchard, the establishment of textile and finishing mills, and the construction of many fine country estates inhabited by the wealthier citizens of Mexico City. The factories spurred a sister a workers town next to San Ángel called Tizapan.

As late as the 1950s, San Ángel was regarded as a town away from the city; however, it has now been completely incorporated into the city. To this day, the local streets retain their cobblestones and oftenlead into small, romantic plazas. Many of the local houses, with their capricious architectural details, today serve as centers for different cultural and artistic activities. Tizapan has become increasingly gentrified, and the old Loreto & Peñapobre paper mill has become a shopping and cultural center.

In the last couple of years, many restaurants were constructed near the outskirts of San Ángel on Avenida Revolución.

San Ángel is also home to one of Mexico's best universities, ITAM, specializing in Economics and Business Administration.

Sites of interest

At Plaza de San Jacinto.

The studio of Diego Rivera is in this neighborhood (Avenida Altavista, in front of San Ángel Inn Restaurant), one of the first functionalist houses built in the city and now an art gallery and cultural center. San Ángel is also home to many excellent restaurants, as well as boutiques offering displays of fine handicrafts. Altavista is also one of the premiere shopping streets for wealthy residents of Mexico City, although it is less pretentious than Presidente Masaryk in Polanco. Another notable street is Avenida de la Paz, a short street with lots of nightlife thanks to its many restaurants and bars. Avenida de la Paz is home to a Mexico City institution, a crepe restaurant called Cluny. It has been the street's focal point for close to 30 years, and is a traditional dating spot for young well-to-do Mexicans.

Saturday art market in Plaza San Jacinto

Inside the chapel of El Carmen

The Convent of El Carmen Museum is located on Avenida Revolucion between Monasterio and Rafael Checa streets. The complex, which once was much larger than it is now, was a convent for Carmelite nuns. Architecturally, it is noted for its use of Talavera tiles from Puebla, both outside on its dome and underneath in the crypt area. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, one way that the order raised funds for its existence was to set aside crypts for donors from the wealthy families of the area. While many of these bodies would be exhumed after a number of years, with their bones stored in an "osorio" later, some of the enterred here did not completely decompose. Between 1917 and 1918, troops ransacked the convent, looking for treasure. What they found in the crypt area instead were a number of well-preserved, naturally-occurring mummies. The museum has 12 mummies on display in the crypt area, however, many are in deteriorating condition because they are not in hermetically-sealed cases.^[1]

Coordinates: 19°20′49″N 99°11′13″W / 19.347°N 99.187°W / 19.347; -99.187

1. ^ "Las momias de El Carmen" (in Spanish). http://dti.inah.gob.mx/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=679. Retrieved 2008-11-04.