Chimalistac

Chimalistac
Colonia
The pulpit bridge (Puente del Púlpito) on Paseo del Río
The pulpit bridge (Puente del Púlpito) on Paseo del Río
Interactive map of Chimalistac
Coordinates: 19°20′42″N 99°11′08″W / 19.345°N 99.1856°W / 19.345; -99.1856
CountryMexico
CityMexico City
BoroughÁlvaro Obregón
FoundedPre-Hispanic period
Postal code
01070

Chimalistac is a residential colonia (neighborhood) in the south of Mexico City, in the Álvaro Obregón borough. It consists of an old village of pre-Hispanic origin and an early 20th-century residential subdivision laid out on what had been the orchard of the Carmelite college of San Ángel. Its irregular street plan dates from that past, and many of its streets are still cobbled and carry little traffic. In 2012 its urban and architectural ensemble and its festivities were declared tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the city.

Location

Chimalistac lies on the border of the Álvaro Obregón borough with the Coyoacán borough. It is bounded by Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo to the north, Paseo del Río to the south and east, and Avenida de los Insurgentes to the west. Its neighbors are the colonias Agrícola to the north, Oxtopulco Universidad to the east, Fortín Chimalistac and Copilco el Bajo to the south, and San Ángel to the west.[citation needed] Its postal code is 01070.

The Magdalena River [es], which gave rise to the neighborhood's bridges, now runs piped beneath Paseo del Río, which is a tree-lined road.

Several bus routes run along Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo. Mexico City Metrobús Line 1 runs along Avenida Insurgentes, with two nearby stations, La Bombilla and Doctor Gálvez. The nearest Metro station is Miguel Ángel de Quevedo.

Name

Chimalistac is a Nahuatl place name combining chimalli, 'shield', and iztac, 'white', and translates as "place of the white shield".

History

Pre-Hispanic and colonial periods

In the pre-Hispanic period Chimalistac belonged to Coyohuacan (Coyoacán), a settlement subjugated by the Tepanecs around 1332. In 1410 Tezozomoc, ruler of Azcapotzalco, raised Coyoacán to the rank of a lordship and installed his son Maxtla as its ruler. In 1426 Maxtla seized the throne of Azcapotzalco and turned on the Mexica city of Tenochtitlan and the Acolhua city of Texcoco. The Mexica and Acolhua joined forces and took Azcapotzalco in 1428; Maxtla fled to Coyoacán, where he was defeated in 1430. The lordship of Coyoacán and its dependent barrios—Chimalistac, Coapa, Tepetlapa, Axotla [es], Huitzilopochco (Churubusco), Xoco and Copilco—then became tributaries of the Triple Alliance of Texcoco, Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan.

Under the Triple Alliance, pre-Hispanic Coyoacán grew along the routes linking Churubusco with Chimalistac, Chimalistac with Mixcoac, and Chimalistac with Tenochtitlan.

At the time of the Spanish conquest, Coyoacán was ruled by the cacique Ixtolinque, son of Cuauhpopoca [es], the former Mexica governor of Coyoacán who had been executed by Hernán Cortés. Ixtolinque sided with the Spanish and, after the fall of Tenochtitlan, was baptized Juan de Guzmán Ixtolinque [es]. He became an ally of Cortés, who settled in Coyoacán with his captains and army from 1521 to 1523 while Mexico City was being rebuilt.

In 1525 Cortés granted Juan de Guzmán Ixtolinque the lands that had belonged to his family, as a reward for his loyalty to the Spanish, and named him governor of Coyoacán, a title he held until his death in 1569. Among his many properties was an estate with a large orchard in Chimalistac. He was succeeded as governor by his son, Juan de Guzmán Ixtolinque the younger, who died in 1573. The orchard passed to his grandson, Felipe de Guzmán Ixtolinque, who in 1595 ceded a third of it to the Discalced Carmelites; shortly afterwards Andrés de Mondragón and his wife, Elvira Gutiérrez, bought the rest of the orchard and gave it to the order as well. On this land the Carmelites founded their college of theology and arts dedicated to Saint Anne, construction of which began in 1615.

The Carmelites kept the property until the Reform Laws.

Government and urban development

The residential subdivision of the former Carmelite land, known as Huerta del Carmen, began in 1906.[citation needed]

The Organic Law of the Federal District and Territories, issued at the end of 1928 and in force from 1 January 1929, abolished the municipalities of the Federal District and divided its territory into a Central Department and thirteen delegaciones, among them San Ángel, to which Chimalistac belonged. It is now part of the Álvaro Obregón borough.

Urban growth absorbed the old village and the subdivision, although the neighborhood kept its own identity. A commercial corridor runs along Avenida Insurgentes and Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo.

On 28 November 2012 the Federal District government issued a decree declaring Chimalistac tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the city. The decree states:

"The alleys, lanes, gardens, religious complexes, promenades, houses and, in general, the urban-architectural ensemble located in Colonia Chimalistac, Delegación Álvaro Obregón, are declared tangible cultural heritage of Mexico City; and the festivities, artistic expressions, recreational activities, popular fairs, traditions, art exhibitions, forms of community organization and other collective expressions belonging to the said colonia are declared intangible cultural heritage."

The declaration places restrictions on land use and on what may be built in the neighborhood.[citation needed]

The neighborhood's patron saint is Saint Sebastian, whose feast is held on 20 January.[citation needed]

Historic monuments

Bridge over Paseo del Río

Chimalistac has twelve buildings listed as historic monuments by the INAH, dating from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as well as the Monument to Álvaro Obregón [es], built in 1935 in Parque de la Bombilla.

From the colonial period date the parish church of San Sebastián Mártir, the hermitage known as the Cámara de los secretos ("chamber of secrets"), and the mansion that houses the Carso Center for the Study of Mexican History. A plaque on the hermitage attributes it to Friar Andrés de San Miguel [es] and dates it to 1620, but both claims have been questioned. Also listed are the atrial cross of the parish church; a stretch of the wall that enclosed the San Ángel college's orchard, preserved on the grounds of the Club España; and the four masonry bridges over Paseo del Río. The best known of these is the Puente del Púlpito (pulpit bridge), for its size and for the tradition attached to it: according to this, the friars rehearsed their sermons from the platform on the bridge, trying to make their voices heard over the noise of the river.

The houses at numbers 5, 101 and 186 Paseo del Río date from the 19th century and are examples of the country houses of the period; they are also historic monuments under Mexican law. So is the late-19th-century mansion at Calle del Carmen 1, which belonged to the publisher Ignacio Cumplido [es]. The same lot holds two modern buildings that were the home of the architect Francisco Artigas [es]; since 2003 the complex has housed the Casa de la Universidad de California en México of the University of California.

Santa

Santa [es] is a novel by Federico Gamboa, published in 1903, that made both its author and Chimalistac famous. The heroine comes from Chimalistac, where she lives with her family at the start of the novel and where she is buried at the end; most of the action takes place in the brothels of Mexico City. The novel gives a fairly faithful picture of Chimalistac in the early 20th century. It was a great success from the start and became closely tied to the area; writers such as José Emilio Pacheco regard it as the first Mexican bestseller. In 1923, in tribute to the book and its author, the San Sebastián square was renamed Plaza Federico Gamboa, and two nearby streets were named Santa and Callejón de Hipo, after the novel's main characters.

In the arts

Chimalistac's main presence in film comes from the four screen adaptations of Santa. The 1932 version was long considered the first Mexican sound film; although at least seven earlier films had sound, it was the first with direct sound. The adaptations are:

Paseo del Río, Plaza Federico Gamboa and the San Sebastián church have been recurring subjects for artists such as José María Velasco, Johann Moritz Rugendas and Ben-Hur Baz.[citation needed]

Notable residents

Points of interest

References

  1. 1 2 Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal, 17th period, no. 1491, p. 308, Corporación Mexicana de Impresión, Mexico City, 2012. (in Spanish)
  2. ↑ Riestra, Mariana (6 October 2022). "Lugares para visitar en la colonia Chimalistac". Chilango (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2026. La encuentras delimitada al norte por Av. Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, al sur y este por Paseo del Río y al oeste con Av. Insurgentes. [It is bounded on the north by Av. Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, on the south and east by Paseo del Río and on the west by Av. Insurgentes.]
  3. ↑ "Ficha de fototeca: Calle San Sebastián 11, Chimalistac". Catálogo Nacional de Monumentos Históricos Inmuebles (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Retrieved 8 November 2026. Domicilio: Calle San Sebastián núm. Ext. 11, Colonia Chimalistac, C.P. 01070 Álvaro Obregón [Address: Calle San Sebastián no. 11, Colonia Chimalistac, postal code 01070, Álvaro Obregón]
  4. ↑ "Los Puentes de Chimalistac". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx (in Spanish). Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. Los Puentes de Chimalistac se encuentran a unas cuadres de la estación Metro Miguel Ángel de Quevedo y muy cerca del Parque La Bombilla. [The Chimalistac bridges are a few blocks from the Miguel Ángel de Quevedo Metro station and very close to Parque La Bombilla.]
  5. ↑ Montemayor, Carlos; et al. (2009). Diccionario del náhuatl en el español de México (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Mexico City: UNAM.
  6. ↑ "Los Puentes de Chimalistac". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx (in Spanish). Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. Chimalistac se compone de dos palabras en náhuatl: chimalli que significa "escudo" e iztac que significa "blanco". [Chimalistac is made up of two Nahuatl words: chimalli, meaning "shield", and iztac, meaning "white".]
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Scharrer Tamm, Beatriz (2005). La casona de Chimalistac (in Spanish). Mexico City: Centro de Estudios de Historia de México Condumex. p. 141. ISBN 968-6815-28-7.
  8. ↑ "Coyoacán". Enciclopedia de los Municipios y Delegaciones de México (in Spanish). INAFED. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  9. ↑ Aragón, María Eugenia (1993). Casa de Cortés (in Spanish). Mexico City: INAH.
  10. ↑ "El Carmen Museum". Lugares INAH. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Retrieved 8 November 2026. In 1595 the indigenous chief of Coyoacán, Felipe de Guzmán Itztlolinqui, ceded one-third of an orchard in his possession in Chimalistac to the Carmelites of Mexico
  11. ↑ "Los Puentes de Chimalistac". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx (in Spanish). Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. Su nieto, Felipe de Guzmán Ixtolinque donó el espacio a los Carmelitas y comenzaron a construir el complejo en 1615. [His grandson, Felipe de Guzmán Ixtolinque, donated the land to the Carmelites, and they began building the complex in 1615.]
  12. ↑ "Los Puentes de Chimalistac". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx (in Spanish). Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. fue abandonada por los Carmelitas después de las leyes de Reforma, en 1857 [it was abandoned by the Carmelites after the Reform Laws, in 1857]
  13. ↑ Villasana, Carlos; Gómez, Ruth. "Cuando había municipios en la capital". El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2026. los municipios se llamarían delegaciones y el territorio estaría dividido en un Departamento Central y 13 delegaciones. [the municipalities would be called delegaciones and the territory would be divided into a Central Department and 13 delegaciones.]
  14. 1 2 Catálogo nacional de monumentos históricos inmuebles, Delegación Álvaro Obregón, D.F. (in Spanish). Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. 1986.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Chimalistac & Vicinity". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx. Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. Parque de la Bombilla & Álvaro Obregón Monument, Av. de la Paz s/n, Col. Chimalistac.
  16. ↑ Icaza Lomelí, Leonardo (2013). "Un vestigio acústico en el Carmen de San Ángel". Boletín de Monumentos Históricos (in Spanish) (28). Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia: 51–63. Habría que cuestionar los datos de la placa antes citada [The details on the plaque quoted above should be questioned]
  17. 1 2 "Los Puentes de Chimalistac". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx (in Spanish). Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. Puente del Púlpito fue usado por los monjes carmelitas para ensayar sus sermones. Tenían que hablar más fuerte que el ruido que hacía el río y se tenía que escuchar en sus orillas. [The Puente del Púlpito was used by the Carmelite monks to rehearse their sermons. They had to speak louder than the noise of the river and be heard on its banks.]
  18. ↑ Ley Federal sobre Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos, art. 36, section I. (in Spanish)
  19. 1 2 3 4 "Casa de la Universidad de California en México". UC Alianza MX. University of California. Retrieved 8 November 2026. In 2003, Casa de California become a reality with the purchase of the property in Calle del Carmen #1 [...] The facilities are compose by a beautiful house of the late XIX century owned by publisher Ignacio Cumplido, two modern buildings of the XX century that serve as the residence of the architect Francisco Artigas
  20. ↑ Cruz Lazcano, María Hortensia (2010). Las corrientes literarias que dominan en la novela Santa de Federico Gamboa (PDF) (MA thesis) (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. p. 2. la vivienda de su familia en Chimalistac, el burdel de Elvira en la ciudad de los prostíbulos [...] y al cementerio de Chimalistac donde fue enterrada [her family's home in Chimalistac, Elvira's brothel in the city of brothels [...] and the Chimalistac cemetery where she was buried]
  21. ↑ "Ubica Pacheco a Santa como el primer best seller en México". El Universal (in Spanish). Notimex. 11 December 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  22. ↑ Consejo de la Crónica de la Ciudad de México (2007). Ciudad de México: crónica de sus delegaciones (in Spanish). Mexico City: Secretaría de Educación del Distrito Federal. p. 38.
  23. ↑ Tuñón, Julia. "La Santa de 1918: primera versión fílmica de una obsesión". Historias (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia: 81–90. durante mucho tiempo se consideró la primera película sonora. Ahora sabemos que la precedieron al menos siete cintas, aunque sí inaugura el sonido directo [for a long time it was considered the first sound film. We now know that at least seven films preceded it, although it did introduce direct sound]
  24. ↑ "Leyendas y lugares históricos de Chimalistac". Chilango (in Spanish). 4 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2026. el pintor José María Velasco escogió varios de los lugares de Chimalistac para realizar algunas de sus obras más destacadas [the painter José María Velasco chose several places in Chimalistac for some of his best-known works]
  25. ↑ Rovira, Teresa; Gastón, Cristina; Hermida, Augusta; Strukelj, Pedro (2004). Documentos de arquitectura moderna en América Latina 1950–1965 (in Spanish). Barcelona: Institut Català de Cooperació Iberoamericana. p. 124.
  26. ↑ "Meade aún no es candidato, pero ya tiene casa de retiro". Milenio (in Spanish). 28 November 2017.
  27. ↑ "¿Quién es Fernando Gómez-Mont, exabogado de Billy Álvarez que ahora defiende a Ernesto 'N'?". El Financiero (in Spanish). 21 July 2026. Retrieved 8 November 2026. es hijo de Felipe Gómez Mont, uno de los fundadores del Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) [he is the son of Felipe Gómez Mont, one of the founders of the National Action Party (PAN)]
  28. ↑ "Augusto Tito Monterroso: un escritor revolucionario". Prensa Libre (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2026. falleció debido a un padecimiento cardiaco cuando se encontraba en su residencia del barrio Chimalistac, en la capital mexicana [he died of a heart condition at his home in the Chimalistac neighborhood of the Mexican capital]
  29. ↑ "Vida y obra de la princesa roja. Entrevista a Elena Poniatowska". Nueva Sociedad (in Spanish) (301). September–October 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2026. La casa en la calle empedrada, ubicada en la colonia de Chimalistac, linda con una capilla, la de San Sebastián Mártir [The house on the cobbled street, in the Chimalistac neighborhood, adjoins a chapel, that of San Sebastián Mártir]
  30. ↑ "Ermita del Secreto". MexicoCity.cdmx.gob.mx. Government of Mexico City. Retrieved 8 November 2026. It's also known as the Camera del secreto.
  31. ↑ Fernández del Castillo, Francisco. "La casa de Posadas". In Ernesto de la Torre Villar (ed.). Lecturas históricas mexicanas (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. III. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas. Retrieved 8 November 2026. fue fundado a principios del siglo XVII o fines del XVI, por un señor Melchor Diez de Posadas, cuyo nombre tomó la casa y conserva hasta la fecha [it was founded in the early 17th or late 16th century by one Melchor Diez de Posadas, whose name the house took and still bears]