Ignacio Ramírez Cultural Centre “El Nigromante”
The building was built especially for a convent, which was given the name Convento Real de la Concepción. It was later known as the Convent of “Las Monjas”.
The Architect. Francisco Martínez Gudiño, with the alarifes Pedro Joaquín de Tapia and Salvador Antonio Hernández, started the construction in 1755 and the building was inaugurated, incomplete, on December 28, 1765, being its founder Sister María Josefa Lina de la Canal y Hervás who with her dowry paid for the construction.
In the last decades of the 19th century it was a Primary School.
In 1912, it was used as a school for girls run by Spanish nuns.
In 1914, when the Revolution broke out, it was occupied as a barracks until 1936.
In 1938, the Ministry of Finance leased it to Felipe Cossío del Pomar, who founded the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes, in operation until 1948.
In 1961, it was reconstructed and adapted with an assembly hall, classrooms and galleries. Finally, in August 1962, this “El Nigromante” Cultural Centre was inaugurated, where art and handicrafts, drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, textiles, paper manufacturing, ceramics, piano, guitar, violin, music theory, classical ballet, etc. are taught.
It is important to highlight the murals in the building:
“(Eleanor Cohen in 1941).
“LIFE AND WORK OF THE GENERALISIMO DON IGNACIO DE ALLENDE” (Unfinished Mural) (David Alfaro Siqueiros).
“EL FANATISMO DEL PUEBLO” “La Caza del Vampiro” (Pedro Martínez 1939).
“THE WEAVERS” (Pedro Martínez 1940).
“LA CANTINA” (Pedro Martínez 1941).
“GUANAJUATO ALMÁCIGO DE PATRIOTAS” (Pedro Martínez 1941).
Schedule: Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00 hrs, Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00 hrs.
Location: Dr. Hernández Macías 75, 37700, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.
Contact: Tel. 01 (415) 152 0289