Colonial Gems

After visiting La Merced market, I took the metro a couple stops to the west and wandered around a section of the "centro histórico" that most tourists do not see.  Just a block from the "Isabel la Católica" metro station are the seventeenth century Church and former convent of San Jerónimo. The convent, which is now a university, is famous as the home of the poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

 

(image from the web)

 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a brilliant scholar and the greatest poet of colonial Mexico.  By the age of three she knew how to read and write, and she wrote her first poem at the age of eight.  She chose to become a nun so that she could continue her studies and writing.  Because of her defense of the right of women to an education, she is regarded as the first feminist.  She spent over twenty years in the Convent of San Jerónimo, and died there in1695 at the age of 43 during an outbreak of the plague.

A block away is another colonial church, San Miguel Arcángel.

The street one block to the north, Calle Regina, was recently pedestrianized for several blocks in an effort to revitalize this overlooked part of the "centro histórico".  A number of sidewalk cafes have sprung up along the street.

At the end of the street is the seventeenth century Church of Regina Coeli.  The interior contains a number of ornate altarpieces which are examples of the churrigueresque style of architecture of colonial Mexico.  In my opinion the interior of this church is among the most impressive that I have seen in Mexico City.