INAH and Municipal Government join forces to protect SMA; in 4 years they intervened 329 buildings and created 120 terraces

Published January 8th, 2021

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the municipal government decided to join forces to take care of the Heritage City of San Miguel de Allende.

In the last 4 years, in San Miguel de Allende, 329 heritage buildings have been intervened and more than 120 terraces have been built, causing changes in the historic center, visual and auditory contamination.

In addition, listed buildings were intervened without the required permits, as in the case of the place known as La Terraza, which was under reconstruction and was closed, so it is currently under observation of the work done to reverse the damage or, if necessary, to hold responsible whoever is responsible for the damage caused.

“In the last four years very little respect was shown for our Heritage, for our monuments, but above all for a major disregard that, if it had continued on this path, would have put the designation of San Miguel de Allende as a World Heritage Site at risk,” said Mayor Mauricio Trejo in his speech.

For this reason, the first collaboration agreement was signed between INAH and a Municipality, so that together they can conserve, care for and protect the heritage of the people of Guanajuato based on the Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic and Historic Zones, as well as its derived regulations.

This is how they built the INAH on Nemesio Diez Avenue.

This is how the director of the INAH Guanajuato Center, Olga Adriana Hernández Flores, and the mayor of San Miguel de Allende, Mauricio Trejo, signed the documents in which both are committed to acting in the:

• Protection
• Conservation
• Restoration
• Recovery and
• Dissemination of the cultural, paleontological, archeological, and historical heritage located within the territorial demarcation of the San Miguel de Allende municipality.

“San Miguel de Allende is a pioneer in this type of agreement since it is the first municipality to consolidate these commitments. Make this great date extensive, so that we all have this awareness of preservation, conservation, and NO change of our heritage,” said the federal official, who has lived in San Miguel de Allende for 30 years.

“We bring the same vision of preserving our heritage. The Historic Center cannot be modified lightly. You can count on us to rescue our entire area. In us you will find an ally every day,” said the Municipal President in thanking INAH.

What does the collaboration consist of?

• Any work carried out in the protected sites of San Miguel de Allende will have to be endorsed by INAH and the Municipality.
• Support will be provided so that federal agencies can work hand in hand with federal officials.
• To monitor, inspect and review the works that are carried out with INAH authorization.
• To attend to the complaints and denunciations of those works that are carried out in a clandestine manner.

Witnessing the signing of the agreement were the president of the San Miguel de Allende College of Architects, Raquel Hernández Correa; the president of the San Miguel de Allende College of Engineers, Martín González González and the president of the San Miguel de Allende College of Architects, Javier Manjarrez Rodríguez.

The professionals pledged to share with their members the message of the Director of INAH Guanajuato Center to work together and fulfill the objectives of the agreement.