Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel, San Miguel de Allende  Oct / Nov.2025 - Mexico

When I looked at San Miguel de Allende from a distance, the building that immediately stood out above the city was the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. With its pink stone faade and slender towers rising towards the sky, at first sight it gives the impression of a very old Gothic cathedral. Yet the famous facade we see today is not the church's original appearance. The main body of the church dates back to the late 17th century, while the neo-Gothic facade that has become the symbol of San Miguel was added almost two centuries later, beginning around 1880. Behind this transformation is a man whose story particularly interested me: Zeferino Gutierrez Munoz. Born in San Miguel in 1840 and of Otomi origin, Gutierrez was a local stonemason and master builder rather than an academically trained architect. Between 1880 and 1888, he designed and constructed the new tower and facade. He had never travelled to Europe to study Gothic architecture directly. Instead, he is believed to have worked from engravings and illustrations of European cathedrals, particularly images of Cologne Cathedral. What emerged, however, was not simply a copy of a European church. It was a local interpretation of Gothic architecture, imagined and built in San Miguel by a local craftsman. As I moved closer and photographed the facade, this became easier to see. Pointed arches, slender columns, niches and towers narrowing as they rise all use the vocabulary of Gothic architecture, but the details reveal a much freer interpretation. The warm colour of the pink cantera stone also creates an effect very different from the darker and heavier stone facades of many European Gothic churches. The earlier church was not completely demolished when this new facade was constructed. Gutierrez incorporated much of the existing building into his design, replacing mainly the earlier towers and transforming the appearance of the church from the square. One of my photographs shows a bronze plaque that connects the building directly with the man who created this transformation. It bears the name of Don Zeferino Gutierrez and commemorates the first centenary of the beginning of construction of the parish tower on 27 October 1980. For me, this small detail changed the way I looked at the facade. What might otherwise appear simply as an impressive architectural feature became connected to the story of the craftsman who created it. Once inside the church, much of the neo-Gothic character of the exterior disappears. The reason is that the Parroquia is actually a building in which several historical periods coexist. Its Baroque origins, later Neoclassical alterations and the 19th-century neo-Gothic facade have all left their marks. The nave, transept, presbytery and the numerous chapels dedicated to different saints and to the Virgin Mary reflect this long process of transformation. Rather than belonging to a single architectural period, the church is the result of centuries of additions, alterations and changing tastes. The final part of my photographs reveals a very different side of the church. Near the main altar, stairs descend into the crypt. Here, the walls and floor are covered with burial plaques and tombstones. Compared with the richly decorated church above, this is a quieter and more austere space. The crypt was used for the burial of important local and historical figures. Among those associated with it are Felipe Gonzalez, linked to Mexico's independence movement, and Anastasio Bustamante, who later served as President of Mexico. When I returned to the square after finishing my photographs, the Parroquia looked slightly different to me. During the day, its pink stone and soaring towers dominate the skyline of San Miguel; after sunset, when the lights come on, the church almost becomes a stage set. My final photographs, showing a performance taking place in front of the illuminated church and crowds filling the square, seemed to complete the story. The Parroquia is not simply a monument preserved from the past. It remains at the centre of the religious, social and cultural life of San Miguel de Allende. There is also an interesting connection that I only noticed later. Zeferino Gutierrez's work appears elsewhere in the region that I photographed during my journey. The La Saleta church in Dolores Hidalgo is also attributed to him, while the dome of the Las Monjas church in San Miguel de Allende is another of his works. Without realizing it at the time, I had encountered and photographed the traces of the same local master in several different places during my journey through Mexico.