Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas facts for kids
The Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas is a special school in the historic center of Mexico City. It was built in the mid-1700s and is a beautiful example of Baroque architecture. This school is unique because it has been open and teaching students continuously since it first started.
The school was originally created to educate orphaned girls and widows. Today, it teaches both boys and girls from kindergarten all the way through high school (called "preparatoria" in Mexico). The building is not usually open for tourists, but sometimes you can rent it for special events like weddings.
The School's Story
The Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas is a private school that helps students learn. It teaches both boys and girls, and its teachers are not priests or nuns. The school opened in the 18th century in the same building it uses today, located in the southern part of Mexico City's historic center. It's the only school from the colonial era that has never closed its doors since it began.
The school still helps students in need by offering scholarships. It is managed by a special group of people called a "patronato," who continue the work of the original founders.
Some famous people who went to this school include Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, an important hero of Mexico's fight for independence, and Sara García, famous as the "little grandmother" of Mexican movies. Keeping the 18th-century Baroque building in good shape and providing scholarships are two big costs for the school. The area around the school is still quite poor, which makes keeping the building in good condition even harder. The school works hard to preserve the building. For example, some old Christ figures from the school were recently sent to a special school to be restored by students there. The school also works with INAH, a Mexican organization that protects historical sites.
Since it's a private school, tourists usually can't go inside. One important way the school earns money, besides donations, is by renting out its beautiful building for events. People can rent it for weddings, book presentations, and graduations. Famous musicians Elton John and James Blunt even held a concert here in 2009. The main courtyard can hold 1,200 people, and the chapel can hold 350 more. Renting the building usually costs about 350,000 Mexican pesos. These rentals usually happen on weekends because classes are held from Monday to Friday. If you want to rent it, you need to book six to eight months in advance.
About the Building
The school building takes up a whole city block. It is surrounded by Las Vizcaínas, Manuel Aldaco, and San Ignacio Streets, with Plaza de Vizcaínas to the south. On the ground floor along the east, west, and south sides, there used to be small rooms that opened to the street but not to the inside of the school. These rooms were rented out as homes and shops. This design had two purposes: it brought in money for the school, and it created a barrier between the busy streets and the girls and women inside. At that time, keeping women separate from the outside world was seen as important for their education. Today, most of these rooms are closed.
The building has always had problems with sinking since it was built. This is because the ground it sits on is not very stable, and events like floods and earthquakes have caused damage. Pumping out groundwater from under Mexico City has made the sinking worse. You can see the damage in the wavy stone beams on Aldaco street and the graffiti on the walls, which are covered in a red volcanic stone called tezontle. Despite these challenges, it is still one of the best-preserved Baroque buildings in the city.
The outside of the building has a simple Baroque style. Different parts of the building are separated by flat columns called pilasters, which have pointed tops called pinnacles. All four sides of the building are covered in tezontle stone, with grayish-white sandstone used for decorations. These decorations used to be painted in bright colors, but the paint has worn off over time.
There are three main entrances, one in the center and two on the sides. One side entrance has an old coat of arms of Mexico and a picture of Rose of Lima, the first saint from the New World. The other side entrance has the Spanish coat-of-arms and a picture of the Virgin of Aránzazu. The main entrance was added a bit later, in 1771, by architect Lorenzo Rodriguez. This entrance is more detailed than the rest of the building. It has unusual pilasters on either side. One of the statues in the main entrance shows Ignatius of Loyola. Other statues show San Luis Gonzaga and Estanislao de Koski. The windows on the upper and lower floors look different: the ground floor windows are rectangular, and the ones above are octagonal. However, fancy frames around each window make them look harmonious. Many windows also have iron railings.
Inside, a grand staircase leads to a chapel within a large courtyard surrounded by arches. There are eleven courtyards inside, and they still have their original tiles. Besides many classrooms and offices, the school also has a Historic Archives section. This section keeps all the school's records from the very beginning and has its own museum.
The most impressive part of the inside is the chapel. It is built in the very detailed Churrigueresque style, with unique columns shaped like upside-down pyramids. It has five golden altarpieces (decorated screens behind the altar) and a choir area with one of the few 18th-century organs still working in Mexico. The chapel was only for the school, so it was decorated very richly, starting with a fancy entrance door. The five altarpieces were made by José Joaquín de Sáyagos in the late 1700s. The ones dedicated to Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Saint Joseph are especially beautiful. One altarpiece is surrounded by flying angels. Sáyagos also made the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe for one of the chapel's inner doors.
History of the School
A legend says that three Basque men saw some girls playing in a dirty area and using bad language. The men realized that the girls weren't to blame, but society was, for not providing them with an education. So, they decided to start a school for girls. The names of these Basque founders – Ambrosio de Meave, Francisco de Echeveste, and José de Aldaco – are now on the streets around the school.
Before this school was founded, there were no schools for girls that went up to the high school level. Girls' education was mostly limited to reading, writing, and crafts, with no formal schooling. The creation of this school was a big step towards equal education for boys and girls in Mexico.
The school was founded by a group of Basques living in Mexico during the colonial period. This group was called Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu. They were mostly from important families, merchants, and religious backgrounds from the Spanish regions of Vizcaya, Álava, Guipúzcoa, and Navarre. In 1732, this group decided to create a school to protect and educate orphan girls and widows. Three members, Francisco de Echeveste, Manuel de Aldaco, and Ambrosio de Meave, led the project. Many other Basques in Mexico also strongly supported the idea.
At first, the group asked for land where Avenida Juarez is today, but that request was denied. Instead, they were offered an area that used to be a market but had become a garbage dump. This area was considered very poor at the time. Even though the land needed a lot of work to drain water, they accepted the site. The construction began on July 31, 1734, which is the feast day of the Basque patron saint, Ignatius de Loyola. The viceroy, Juan Antonio de Vizarrón y Eguiarreta, laid the first stone. The school's patroness, however, was the Virgin of Aránzazu, a special image of Mary from the Basque region. The building cost 2 million pesos and was finished in the 1750s.
The school's current name, Las Vizcaínas College, comes from its original purpose: to help poor widows and girls, especially those of Basque or Spanish origin. The school was different because it wasn't a convent, and girls didn't have to become nuns. This made it very modern for its time, and its official opening was delayed. The Spanish Crown was slow to give its final approval, which didn't happen until Pope Clement XIII approved it and Carlos III became king in 1767.
The school was originally called the Real Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola. Even though the students were considered "secular" (not religious), their education was still based on Catholic principles, including moral and religious lessons. After Mexico gained independence, the word "Real" (royal) was removed from the name and replaced with "Nacional" (national). Later, during the Reform War, the school's name changed again to the Colegio de la Paz Vizcaínas. In 1998, the school went back to using the saint's name and is now officially called the Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas.
From 1767 to 1861, the school operated as it was originally planned. From 1861 to 1912, the government supported the school more but also took away some of its independence, especially in choosing who would be on its Board of Directors. During the Reform Laws, the school stopped holding Mass in its chapel, which was left mostly empty for a while. However, from 1912 onwards, the school has regained its independence. Since 1878, the college has updated its programs to focus on technical and professional training. In the 1990s, the part of the building that the government had used was restored to its original look as much as possible. This area was then turned into a museum to show the school's collection of religious items and historical records. At the same time, the chapel and its nearby rooms were also restored.
Throughout its history, Mexico has gone through many big events like the War of Independence, the Mexican–American War, the Reform War, the French Intervention, and the Mexican Revolution. The Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas has managed to stay open through all of them.
See also
In Spanish: Colegio de las Vizcaínas para niños
- List of colonial non-religious buildings in Mexico City
Images for kids
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Part of the main facade of the building
