By Luis Felipe Rodriguez
For the local builders, designers, architects, engineers, and masons, it is a source of pride that the dome of the Immaculate Conception church was done here. The church had not been completed when the work was began, and it was only through the efforts of Pedro Sandi that more work was done after 1765. The transepts, presbytery, and the dome were taken up.
Zeferino Gutiérrez was a master builder, born in San Miguel de Allende in 1840. He is famous for designing the façade of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel and also the dome of the Immaculate Conception church, also known as Las Monjas. Dr. Atl, a well-recognized Mexican painter of the 19th century, opined that the dome was inspired by Les Invalides in Paris, where Napoleon Bonaparte was buried. The church of the Immaculate Conception is part of a complex that had within the convent for the nuns of the same order. It is now a cultural center that hosts art workshops and exhibitions. The church was built in the baroque style with neoclassical decorations and paintings attributed to Juan Rodríguez Juárez and Miguel Cabrera. Zeferino Gutierrez died in 1916.
