cont. from front page,

The founder of the festival, Gilberto Munguía, a renowned cellist who has performed in many major cities and concert halls in Europe, Asia, and North and South America, moved to San Miguel in 1986. Munguía was born in Texas to a musically talented Mexican–American family. At age five an aunt started teaching him music, and two years later he gave his first public piano recital. At 13, he discovered the cello and played “Home on the Range” (after his first lesson) for his mother to demonstrate his intentions of becoming a great musician were serious. Munguía holds a bachelor’s degree in music degree from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in music from Yale University. He plays a G.B. Guadagnini cello made in 1748.

Munguía was also an Affiliate Artist (a program for young artists-in-residence) for four years. He gave hundreds of informal concerts in schools, colleges, hospitals, social clubs, drug rehabilitation centers, retirement and nursing homes, army barracks, museums, theaters, factories and shopping malls and on radio and TV—and even in jail. Following his jail concert, many newspapers across the country carried the headline “Captive Audience” with a picture of the artist playing in front of jail cells.

Much of Munguía’s career has been devoted to founding and directing chamber music festivals. His first entry into this field was as director of the West End Tea Concerts in New York City. The concerts were a huge success with Upper West Side residents. Among others, the series presented the Hollywood composer Lee Holdridge and the great Bolivian pianist Walter Ponce. In California, Munguía founded and directed, until its dissolution, the Chamber Soloists of San Francisco. The first concert was played to a sold-out audience.

This year, the Festival de San Miguel de Allende presents 18 concerts in 11 days. It opens Friday, December 29, with Beethoven’s Trio Op. 1, No.1 performed by Efim Boico (violin) and Wolfgang Laufer (cello) from the Fine Arts Quartet and Thomas Hrynkiw at the piano; the Cello Sonata Op. 6 by Strauss is performed by cellist Shauna Rolston and pianist Thomas Hrynkiw. The concert ends with the Brahms Quintet Op. 34 for piano, two violins, viola and cello, interpreted by the Fine Arts Quartet and pianist Jorge Federico Osorio. 

The youngest artist in the festival is Luke Hsu, an 18-year-old violinist who began his musical studies with his mother when he was four years old. Luke has won several important competitions, and he has performed with orchestras in Texas and the southeastern US. He also won the 2008 grand prize at the Kingsville, Texas, International Young Performers Competitions. 

Hsu and Thomas Hrynkiw, a renowned pianist who has recorded over 800 solo pieces and accompaniments for Yamaha Disklavier, play sonatas by composers Bach, Ysye and Franck in a free concert on Saturday, December 20, at noon. 

Munguía and Hrynkiw perform in a special free concert for children on December 24 at 4pm. The story of Peter and the Wolf, by Ukrainian composer Sergei Prokofiev, was based on the author’s childhood memories. Prokofiev wrote the story in just two weeks in 1936; he constructed the music as a child’s introduction to the orchestra, with each character in the story represented by a different instrument or group of instruments: Peter by the strings, the bird by the flute, the duck by the oboe, the cat by the clarinet, the wolf by the horn section, and so on. Peter and the Wolf was an immediate success and has been loved by children all over the world. The music is sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults, even through repeated hearings. The moral “you can’t be a hero if you don’t take risks” delights children and adults.

Another free concert, on December 25, is performed by the Violines Internacionales de los Hermanos Aguascalientes (Daniel and José Luis, violinists; Gregorio on the guitar; Mario, keyboard; and Daniel Junior, bass). The musicians were born in San Miguel and are graduates of the Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramirez “El Nigromante.” 

The last free concert is on December 27 at noon. Hrynkiw, Efim Boico and Wolfgang Laufer play Haydn’s Piano Trio Hob. XV. Hrynkiw and cellist Rolston present a sonata for cello and piano by Strauss.

Banco Nacional de México first sponsored the festival and then AT&T served as sponsor. The sponsors this season are Yamaha of Mexico, Consejo Turístico de San Miguel de Allende, the Ayuntamiento 2006-2009, the government of the state of Guanajuato, the Consejo de Promoción Turística de México (Council of Tourist Promotion) and Ristorante Bella Italia. 

Festival de San Miguel de Allende begins season 16
By Gilberto Munguía

The greatest pleasure for me, as director, comes as the season begins—the end of the work year, you might say.

The first “fun” comes on the first day of the new year, as I’m having my coffee, when I start planning the programs for the new season. It’s really true, what Clara Schumann said, “Chamber music is the music of friends.” And as I await the arrival of my friends, the artists who will be performing during the festival, I can’t help but remember the many musical experiences we have shared through the years.

Thomas Hrynkiw and I have played concerts all over the world—Europe, Mexico, the US, even on ships. I had the pleasure of playing with the Fine Arts Quartet about 20 years ago at the Festival de Música de Cámara in San Miguel.

I have been aware of Jorge Federico Osorio’s reputation as Mexico’s greatest pianist for many years, so I am very happy to be able to bring him to our festival this year.

Shauna Rolston, the most beautiful of cellists, Canadian by birth, has thrilled us with her extraordinary playing many times; this year, we’ll be playing a work for three cellos and piano, obviously because we have three cellists at the festival!

Thomas and I have been on the stage with Luis Humberto Ramos many times.

The Hermanos Aguascalientes are friends I admire greatly for their brilliant performances of the light-classical and the popular, and after all, they began their violin studies with my great friend Leonard Brooks.

They are my friends, because we are musicians; they are your friends, because you love music; and we are all one, big circle of friends, because we especially love chamber music. Just as Clara said. 



Thomas Hrynkiw, piano

Hailed as a pianist of “dramatic power and poetry,” Thomas Hrynkiw has been appearing in public since the age of thirteen. At 19, his Tchaikovsky concerto with the great conductor Leopold Stokowski was acclaimed as a “stunning performance.” Hrynkiw won the Gold Medal at the Geneva Competition, the Frank Huntington Beebe Award, the Harold Bauer Award and the National Music Teachers Association Award. He has played in the major concert halls in the US, Europe and Mexico and has appeared annually at the Newport Festival in Rhode Island and at the Festival de San Miguel de Allende. Hrynkiw is one of the most sought-after chamber music performers. He has a long association with Metropolitan Opera basso Paul Plishka, with whom he has performed in the US, Europe and the former USSR. He has recorded over 800 solo pieces and accompaniments for Yamaha Disklavier.



Jorge Federico Osorio, piano

Jorge Federico Osorio is called one of the most eminent pianists of our time, an artist who has been acclaimed internationally for his mastery of the keyboard. He plays regularly with the world’s major orchestras, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Israel Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of France, the Orchestra of the RTV Espanola, as well as the orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee and Dallas. His recordings for EMI, CBS, Artek, Cedille, IMP and ASV include the five Beethoven concertos, the concertos of Mozart, Schumann, Ravel, Rodrigo and Tchaikovsky, as well as recitals and programs of chamber music. 

Osorio was born in Mexico City. He studied at the conservatories of Mexico City, Paris and Moscow. 



Shauna Rolston, cello

A cellist since the age of two, Shauna Rolston has developed a distinguished international reputation as a soloist, recording artist, proponent of new music and chamber player. As one of Canada’s most celebrated musicians, Rolston has received the Pro Musicis International Award, the Award for Excellence from the Government of Alberta and the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. She was recognized as the “Young Artist to Watch” by Musical America, and she was named one of the “Canadian Leaders of the Future” by Maclean’s Magazine.

Since making a spectacular Town Hall debut in New York at the age of 16, Rolston has appeared in many of the major music centers around the world, performing regularly on four continents in recital and concerto engagements.



Luis Humberto Ramos, clarinet

Luis Humberto Ramos was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas. He studied music at the Conservatorio Nacional in Mexico City and the Academy of Music in Vienna. He has been principal clarinetist of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, Filarmónica de las Américas, Sinfónica de Jalapa, Opera de Bellas Artes and Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México. He lived in London for one year doing a special course of studies in the chamber music repertoire. Upon his return to Mexico in 1984, he was appointed director of the Escuela de Perfeccionamiento “Vida y Movimiento,” a position he held for five years. Ramos has appeared as soloist with the principal orchestras of the country with the conductors Fernando Lozano, Efrem Kurtz, Enrique Dimecke and Guadalupe Flores. He has made several recordings of contemporary music and appears regularly in the major festivals and concert halls of Mexico.



Violines Internacionales de Los Hermanos Aguascalientes

Born in San Miguel de Allende, the Hermanos Aguascalientes (Daniel and José Luis, violinists; Gregorio, guitarist; Mario, keyboard; and Daniel Junior, bass) are graduates of the Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramirez “El Nigromante,” where they studied with Leonard Brooks. For several years, Daniel and José Luis played with the Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad de Guanajuato, the chamber orchestra of the same university and the state band.

They formed the present group in 1977, and since then have claimed a prominent place in the musical world of Mexico. Their extensive discography includes popular and light classical music of all parts of the world. They appear in the most important halls of Mexico, South America and Europe. 



The wolf, the mayor and chamber music

Gilberto Munguía, distinguished cellist and director of chamber music’s Festival de San Miguel de Allende, said that children are a very important audience and “that’s the reason we always include a concert for them.” For last year’s presentation of Peter and the Wolf, “we invited Mayor Jesús Correa to narrate and he did it exceptionally well. He howled as a wolf, he quacked as a duck and he added sound effects that excited children and charmed adults. We invited him for this year’s presentation, too, but he hasn’t confirmed yet because he doesn’t know if he is going to be in town. We hope we can have him again; if not, I’ve learned a lot from him and I know how and when I have to do the noises,” said Munguía. The free Peter and the Wolf concert is December 24, 4pm, at Teatro Ángela Peralta.

For the last three years, Munguía has said that chamber music is music for friends because it “is intimate music that attracts everybody and opens hearts to beauty. I especially invite the people of San Miguel; this festival is for them. The audience in a chamber music concert feels embraced by the music and by the musicians, who are playing, and they feel a part of that sound and of the whole presentation of the piece; that’s the beauty of chamber music and the reason why we musicians love to play.”

For free concerts, Teatro Ángela Peralta opens its doors 30 minutes before the performance to allow people to take their seats.

For the 11 other concerts, tickets are for sale at the festival office on Canal and at the Peralta box office, Hernández Macías 62.



Festival de San Miguel de Allende
Plaza Colonial, Local 104
10am–2pm, Tel. 152-8380 
Canal 21, Centro
www.festivalsma.com 

Teatro Ángela Peralta
Esq. Mesones/Hernández Macías
Tel. 152-2200

Orchestra boxes 300 pesos
Orchestra seats 250 pesos
Balcony 150 pesos
Gallery 100 pesos
Students with ID 20 pesos

Festival de San Miguel de Allende XVI
Teatro Ángela Peralta, Mesones 82

Free concerts/Conciertos gratuitos

12pm–December/Diciembre 20
Luke Hsu, Recital de violín y Piano

4pm–December/Diciembre 24
Gilberto Munguia, Thomas Hrynkiw
Prokofiev–Peter and the Wolf/Pedro y el Lobo
Concert for children/Concierto para niños

8pm–December/Diciembre 25
Los Violines Internacionales de los Hermanos Aguascalientes

12pm–December/Diciembre 27 
Efim Boico, Wolfgang Laufer, Thomas Hrynkiw–Haydn, Trio, Hob. XV, 25 
Shauna Rolston, Thomas Hrynkiw–Strauss, Sonata, Op. 6, para chelo y piano 


Concerts/Conciertos 
8pm–December/Diciembre 19–31

December/Diciembre 19, Friday/Viernes 
8pm–I
Efim Boico, Wolfgang Laufer, Thomas Hrynkiw
Beethoven–Trio, Op. 1, No. 1 
Shauna Rolston, Thomas Hrynkiw
Strauss–Sonata, Op. 6, para chelo y piano 
Fine Arts Quartet, Jorge Federico Osorio
Brahms–Quinteto, Op. 34 

December/Diciembre 20, Saturday/Sábado
12pm–Free concert/Concierto Gratuito
Luke Hsu, violín
Thomas Hrynkiw, piano
Bach–Sonata, No. 2 (BMV 1003) 
Ysaye–Sonata, No. 6 “Capricho Español” 
Franck–Sonata 
8pm–II
Fine Arts Quartet, Luis Humberto Ramos, Thomas Hrynkiw
Prokofiev–Overture on Hebrew Themes/Obertura Sobre Temas Judios, Op. 34 
Luis Humberto Ramos, Thomas Hrynkiw
Brahms–Sonata, Op. 120, No. 2
Fine Arts Quartet, Shauna Rolston
Schubert–Quinteto, Op. 163 

December/Diciembre 21, Sunday/Domingo 
8pm–III
Fine Arts Quartet
Arriaga–Cuarteto No. 1 
Mendelssohn–Capriccio, Op. 81, No. 3 
Mendelssohn–Scherzo, Op. 81, No. 2 
Saint-Saëns–Cuarteto, Op. 153 

December/Diciembre 22, Monday/Lunes 
8pm–IV
Efim Boico, Wolfgang Laufer, Thomas Hrynkiw
Haydn–Trio, Hob. XV, 25 
Fine Arts Quartet, Luis Humberto Ramos
Mozart–Quinteto, K. 581, para clarinete y cuerdas/strings 
Ralph Evans, Shauna Rolston, Jorge Federico Osorio
Brahms–Trio, Op. 8

December/Diciembre 23, Tuesday/Martes 
8pm–V
Fine Arts Quartet
Beethoven–Cuarteto, Op. 18, No. 5 
Glass–Cuarteto No. 2 “Company” (1983)
Schumann–Cuarteto, Op. 41, No. 1 

December/Diciembre 24, Wednesday/Miércoles
4pm–Free concert for children/ Gratuito concierto para niños
Gilberto Munguia, Thomas Hrynkiw
Prokofiev–Peter and the Wolf/Pedro y el Lobo

December/Diciembre 25, Thursday/Jueves
8pm–Free concert/Concierto gratuito
Los Violines Internacionales de los Hermanos Aguascalientes

December/Diciembre 26, Friday/Viernes 
8pm–VI
Fine Arts Quartet, Thomas Hrynkiw
Rachmaninoff–Cuarteto, No. 1
Mendelssohn–Cuarteto, Op. 12 
Dohnanyi–Quinteto, Op. 1 

December/Diciembre 27, Saturday/Sábado 
12pm–Free concert/Concierto gratuito
Efim Boico, Wolfgang Laufer, Thomas Hrynkiw
Haydn–Trio, Hob. XV, 25
Shauna Rolston, Thomas Hrynkiw
Strauss–Sonata, Op. 6, para chelo y piano
8pm–VII
Jorge Federico Osorio, Recital de Piano
Brahms–Cuatro Piezas, Op. 119 
Chopin–Sonata, Op. 58 
Prokofiev–Sonata, Op. 138/135 
Granados–Danza Española No. 2, No. 5 
Ponce–Balada Mexicana 

December/Diciembre 28, Sunday/Domingo
8pm–VIII
Efim Boico, Chauncey Patterson
Mozart–Duo, K. 423, para violín y viola 
Ralph Evans, Jorge Federico Osorio
Brahms–Sonata, Op. 108, para violín y piano
Ralph Evans, Chauncey Patterson, Gilberto Munguia, Thomas Hrynkiw
Fauré–Cuarteto, Op. 15 

December/Diciembre 29, Monday/Lunes
8pm–IX
Efim Boico, Wolfgang Laufer, Jorge Federico Osorio
Mozart–Trio, K. 502 
Thomas Hrynkiw
Kosenko–Sonata, Op. 15 
Fine Arts Quartet
Beethoven–Cuarteto, Op. 59, No. 3 

December/Diciembre 30, Tuesday/Martes 30
8pm–X
Fine Arts Quartet
Haydn–Cuarteto, Op. 77, No. 1 
Herrmann–Echoes (1965) 
Mendelssohn–Cuarteto, Op. 44, No. 1 

December/Diciembre 31, Wednesday/Miércoles
8pm–XI
Shauna Rolston, Wolfgang Laufer, Gilberto Munguia, Thomas Hrynkiw
Popper–Requiem, Op. 66, for three cellos and piano/para tres chelos y piano 
Ralph Evans, Shauna Rolston, Jorge Federico Osorio
Brahms–Trio, Op. 101 
Fine Arts Quartet, Thomas Hrynkiw
Schumann–Quinteto, Op. 44 

Congress on the bicentennial opens in San Miguel
By Jesús Ibarra

The year 2010 has been officially declared by presidential decree as the “Year of the Bicentennial of Mexican Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution.”

It will be “the year in which all generations of Mexicans will have a unique opportunity to build what we are and what we intend to be as an independent nation.”

As part of the bicentennial celebrations, the Union of Historians of the University of Guanajuato, supported by the State Commission of the Bicentennial of Independence, created a congress called “Towards the Bicentennial of Independence,” which opened on December 12 in San Miguel de Allende with two lectures: “Independence as a Political Project: Morelos and Fernando VII” and “Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Michael the Archangel.” 


The State Commission

Due to importance of these celebrations, the Mexican government created a national commission to organize activities, including in addition to cultural events throughout the nation a series of public works projects. In order to work along with the national commission and to organize the bicentennial activities in the state, the governor of Guanajuato, Juan Manuel Oliva, has also created a state commission. 

Raúl Herrera Vega, secretary of the state commission, announced that the group is headed by Governor Oliva, as president, and State Secretary Gerardo Mosqueda, as coordinator. It also includes representatives of the State Institute of Culture, the State Congress, the Tribunal of Justice of the State of Guanajuato, the City Council of Dolores Hidalgo, the State Office of Finance and Administration, the Secretaría de Educación Pública (State Office of Public Education), the State Office of Public Works, the State Office of Tourism Development, the University of Guanajuato and members of the community. 

Herrera said that the state commission is currently organizing local commissions in the 46 municipalities so that in January 2009 they can be integrated into the program of activities for the bicentennial, which will include cultural events, publications, conferences and road construction. “We will announce the program at the beginning of 2009. Each municipality is proposing its own projects, not only to build infrastructure, but for education and reviewing and disseminating information on the history of Mexico,” he said. “We want to publish books and research projects about Mexican history.” 

The Congress

“The Traveling Congress ‘Towards the Bicentennial of Independence’ is based on the model of a 2003 congress commemorating the 250th anniversary of Miguel Hidalgo’s birth,” said Carlos Armando Preciado, president of the Union of Historians of Guanajuato.

That earlier congress, which included lectures about Hidalgo, was held in several cities in Guanajuato and was well received. “Now, we are planning to do the same thing. We are opening in San Miguel with these two lectures, and we will be offering some more, with national and local historians in other cities such as Pénjamo, Abasolo, León, Dolores, and San Felipe, where Miguel Hidalgo was a parish priest before moving to Dolores.” “It is important that this event be accessible to everybody, because the bicentennial celebration must be national; it cannot remain only in capital cities like Mexico City or Guanajuato,” said Alfredo Ávila Rueda, one of the speakers. Although there is not yet a complete program for the congress, activities are planned to draw to a 
close in Guanajuato by the middle of next year. 

Emilio Vidaurri, commissioned by the Union of Historians to assist with the celebrations, said that the Union intends to promote publication of local historians’ work.

The lectures

Independence as a Political Project: Morelos and Fernando VII This lecture was given by Alfredo Ávila Rueda, Ph.D., a researcher from the Institute of History of UNAM. “King Fernando VII of Spain has always caused problems for historians,” said Ávila.

“How is it possible that the insurgents evoked the king as a possible ruler of their new free country while at the same time they were demanding separation from Spain?” According to the historian, what the insurgents really wanted was to avoid having the kingdom of Spain, and New Spain along with it, sold to Napoleon in France, which Fernando VII and his father, Carlos IV, were planning to do. But the people were used to the figure of the monarch, after 300 years of belonging to Spain, so they used his name to begin the movement

Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Michael the Archangel

According to historian José Luis Lara Valdés, the cult of Saint Michael the Archangel might have had its origin in the cult of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli.

A banner bearing the image of Guadalupe was carried by Hidalgo from the shrine at Atotonilco at the beginning of the insurgence. She, along with Saint Michael the Archangel, appeared on Ignacio Allende’s flags, currently in a museum in Spain (see Atención, September 12). 

UNAM research center coming to Parque Landeta
By Jesús Ibarra

Over the next three years, UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), the most prestigious university and research institution in Latin America, will open a multidisciplinary research center in Parque Landeta at a cost of 50 million pesos. The plan was announced by Cristóbal Finkelstein Franyutti, city secretary, and César Arias de la Canal, director of the civil association El Charco del Ingenio A.C. Finkelstein and Arias said that researchers at the center will study global warming using geology, ecology, demographics and economics, among other fields. 

Parque Landeta

According to Arias, the botanical garden at El Charco del Ingenio opened soon after the land was acquired in 1990. “One day we learned that a group of businessmen wanted to open a shooting range on the land adjacent to El Charco, right where migratory birds congregate,” he said. “We asked the local government to create an ecological preserve instead as a muffling zone for El Charco.” The government agreed to cede the 35 hectares (86 acres) of land that became Parque Landeta. 

“In two or three years we already had fenced the land and restored the ecosystems; we had marked paths and established recreational areas for families with the basic facilities, and people began to come to the park” said Arias. Parque Landeta is also an important location for festivals and traditional celebrations; hundreds of people from rural communities and old San Miguel neighborhoods attend the Holy Cross festival there each year. 

In 2005, El Charco and Parque Landeta were both officially declared ecological preserves. 

Parque Landeta is currently not only an ecological and recreational area but also an educational one. “The educational programs at El Charco extend to Parque Landeta, mainly those offered along with PEASMA. The reforesting campaigns, Earth Day and World Environment Day are celebrated in the park.” Parque Landeta also has an artificial dam where many species of wildlife live. The dam also could function as a natural water treatment plant for wastewater from the adjacent neighborhood of Palmita de Landeta; that project is still under construction. Currently, 2 of the 35 hectares of the park are occupied by the municipal vivero, where landscape plants are grown. Another five hectares adjoining the vivero are untenable for wildlife. The UNAM research center will be built on those five hectares, and the vivero will remain. 

UNAM in San Miguel 

“UNAM first established a presence in San Miguel by opening an educational center for online studies at the Biblioteca Pública, as well as the “Grand Vision Study,” an economic analysis of San Miguel undertaken by the university’s Faculty of Economics,” said Finkelstein. 

When the overseers of El Charco del Ingenio learned about the UNAM project they immediately agreed to collaborate and offer ground in Parque Landeta to UNAM. “El Charco had already collaborated with UNAM on some projects with the botanical garden,” said Arias. “We have some agreements with them for the study of insects, plants and fauna. With this project, these agreements will be formalized. The study of global warming is something that El Charco will always approve.”

He said that El Charco by itself would have never had the funds to properly develop the park. “The UNAM has the economic as well as scientific and technological power to develop the park in accord with the three main objectives of El Charco del Ingenio: conservation, education and recreation,” he said. “UNAM has enthusiastically promised to keep up the Holy Cross festivities, since they would be their link with the community.” Arias said that UNAM could also better develop the artificial dam. 


According to Finkelstein, the contract between the local government and El Charco for free use of the remaining 28 hectares will be terminated and a new loan contract will be signed with UNAM. “The UNAM is obliged to use all five hectares of land. On the rest of the land, they will develop the park, with research fields, an ecological area and a recreational area.” According to Arias, the research center will include an auditorium, a library, classrooms, laboratories and offices for professors and researchers. Finkelstein said that the official contract with UNAM has not yet been singed but it will be approved by the city council in one of the next two sessions between December 15 and December 19. According to Finkelstein, the research center would be open by 2012. “This research center will have great benefits for San Miguel in terms of education and jobs,” he said. 

San Miguel a model “Magic Town”
By Jesús Ibarra

The government of Campeche invited City Secretary Cristóbal Finkelstein Franyutti to participate in the 12th International Festival of the Centro Histórico of Campeche. He took part in the workshop “Housing and Sustainable Developing in World Heritage Latin American Cities” with the subject “San Miguel de Allende, from a Magic Town to a World Heritage Site,” a presentation of the works performed in San Miguel through the program Pueblos Mágicos (Magic Towns) which were useful to promote San Miguel as a World Heritage site.

Finkelstein said that he was invited because “San Miguel is considered a model for other sites which want to be recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage sites, due to its management of economic resources, conservation of historical center and the integration of the file which was presented before UNESCO for the candidacy.”

Among the issues treated in the workshop were construction rules, public transport, traffic, pedestrian areas in the centro, as well as living in the centro. “Other centros históricos, such as in Mexico City, have become business areas, while San Miguel’s is still a residential area,” said Finkelstein. 

He announced that at the beginning of next year, Francesco Banderin, head of UNESCO World Heritage Center, will come to San Miguel to handle the official World Heritage recognition. “We will do a big celebration and we will place the commemorative plaque in special places in San Miguel and Atotonilco,” said Finkelstein.