Church of Regina Coeli

Church of Regina Coeli. Calle de Regina at Boivar. The old conventual church of a Franciscan nunnery, it was established in the late XVIc.  The church we see dates from  the XVIIc and was finally open in 1731 the work of architect Custodio Duran , the main portal has a beautiful relief of the birth of our Lady, the smaller portal is a reduced and simpler version of the first. The interior has splendid baroque altars, the main one of estipites (this column is an upside down  truncated pyramid and became the signature of Mexican baroque), with saints of the Franciscan order,   the evangelists, querubs and gilded foliage producing and inspiring view. You cannot miss the Medina Pizarro Chapel, entering  is just across the nave under an imposing archway, also the work of Custodio Duran with paintings by Villalobos.

A great museum in a beautiful square!

1.       Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) . The word ¨National¨ in the name of the museum implies Mexican, 95% of the Works of the exhibition were made in Mexico by Mexicans, quite an achievement not easily repeated in other parts of the world. The collection is divided in two floors, the second floor devoted to the rich vice regal collection of paintings with works by Arteaga, Rodriguez Juarez, Echave, Villalpando, Cabrera etc., the first floor comprises paintings and sculptures from the XIX c. to the first half of the XX c., among them several Landesios and Velascos the two main representatives of the Mexican School of Landscape, that together with the Hudson River School will  come to be the best in the Americas in this field and then a number of artist that greatly contributed to the arts in Mexico, among my favorites, Rodriguez Lozano, Zarraga, Calusell, Fuster, Atl, Abraham Angel, Ruelas, Saturnino Herran and many others. Quite refreshing as the visitor will see that regarding art there is far more to see than Diego and Frida.

The building is a Chicago style structure from the 1900´s covered in stone in an eclectic style of great and noble proportions, the work of Silvio Contri an Italian architect by order of president Porfirio Diaz and initially housed the Ministry of Communications and Public Works, turned Museum in 1982. In front of the main gate you will have the chance to appreciate the equestrian sculpture of Charles the IV by Tolsa, one of the three great sculptures of its type in the world.

Museo Franz Mayer, Ciudad de México, plaza de la Santa Veracruz

La colección Franz Mayer es resultado del amor por las antigüedades del financiero alemán del mismo nombre asentado en México a principios de SXX. Está alojada en el antiguo hospital de San Juan de Dios y destacan sus colecciones de plata, la gran mayoría plata mexicana, talavera, pintura Novohispana, son especialmente notables sus enconchados, arte plumario y bellísimos biombos. El museo se descompone en dos cuerpos, el antiguo hospital y el viejo claustro, en este último se puede disfrutar de una taza de café en la cafetería más linda de la ciudad, en cuyos muros resplandecen los azulejos de la colección. El museo te dará una muy buena idea de la vida de las clases acomodadas en la Nueva España.

The Church of la Enseñanza

1.       The Church of la Enseñanza is often overseen by most of our foreign visitors, it is located on the street of Donceles, half a block from Hotel Catedral, between Brazil and Argentina streets. The church, convent and girls school were founded by Sister Ignacia de Azlor y Echevers, daughter of the Marquis of Aguayo. The Church dates from the second half of the XVIIIc and its attributed to Architect Guerrero y Torres. The façade in Neostyle baroque is splendid, the first body with columns flanking Saint Michael and Saint John Nepomuk, on top,  pairs of columns frame the sculptures of Saint Ignatius and Saint Benedict, above the mixtilinear arch you will find Saint Joseph and infant Christ, then the Choir window with the image of our lady of El Pilar to whom is dedicated the Church,  at the top the representation of the Trinity. The interior is the triumph of the exuberant baroque, the high altar is gilded with a number of great ¨estofados¨, the Choir is magnificent as the rest of the lateral altarpieces. A most see!!!