MUSEO VIRREINAL DE GUADALUPE

This breathtakingly beautiful museum is housed in a former Franciscan college(Ex Colegio de Propaganda Fide de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) where religious were trained to go and spread the faith in the vast territories of the North. Founded in 1707, it functioned until 1859 and the laws of the Reformation, which were unfavourable to the Church, when it had to be abandoned by the occupants, who went to live with their neighbours in an attempt to save what they could from looting. Little by little, the place became a barracks, a refuge for orphans, a hospice, a match factory, a popular housing and a stable, before it became a Franciscan novitiate again in 1953, which is still part of the facilities today. But before that, in 1939, the building was converted into a museum: in one part of the facilities the religious college is reconstructed as it was at the end of the 19th century. In another part, no less than 27 rooms exhibit religious paintings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including works by Cristóbal de Villalpando and Miguel Cabrera, painters of great renown. Connected to two chapels of great beauty and ornamental richness, it is an absolutely unique place on the whole continent: a must-see. The Festival Barroco del Museo de Guadalupe takes place every year between late September and early October. If your dates coincide, don't miss this great event!