The Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante” Cultural Center celebrated 59 years of foundation in San Miguel

Published August 19th, 2021

The Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante” Cultural Center celebrated its 59th anniversary on Tuesday, August 17. The INBAL precinct celebrates 59 years as a cultural reference in San Miguel de Allende.

It began activities on August 17, 1962, with the purpose of promoting arts education and production, artisan creation, and the diffusion of the arts, with a positive response from the local, national and foreign public.

The building that houses the precinct was built in the 18th century by architect Francisco Martínez Gudiño, a project entrusted to him by Doña Josefa Lina de la Canal y Hervás for the Royal Convent of the Conception, which functioned until the time of the Reform to later become a school and during the Revolution, it was used as barracks.

In 1938, with the authorization of President Lázaro Cárdenas, the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes was created, dedicated to arts and crafts, a private enterprise that years later became the Instituto Allende. In 1951, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) received the property for its use and proceeded to remodel it.

Creation and dissemination of various artistic disciplines

In 1962, thanks to the architectural rescue of the building, the history of a public place dedicated to the creation and diffusion of diverse artistic disciplines began: music, literature, visual arts, cinema, dance, theater, architectural reflections, and popular art. Today, almost six decades later, the Cultural Center continues its work of encouraging free creation and education, just as Ignacio Ramírez Calzada, a notable figure of the 19th century who gives his name to the space and at the same time inspires it, would have imagined.

The Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante” Cultural Center has been a local and regional reference for its wide range of face-to-face activities, as well as for its courses and workshops that are transmitted online during this stage of sanitary confinement.

Recently, the Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante” was distinguished with the Ibermuseos de Educación Award for its digital educational platform that highlights the daily activities of people who live and work in San Miguel de Allende.

With information from INBAL