{{Infobox World Heritage Site
| WHS         = Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco
| Image       = thumb|250px|center|Panoramic view of San Miguel de Allende.
| State Party = 
| Type        = Cultural
| Criteria    = ii, iv
| ID          = 1274
| Region      = Latin America and the Caribbean
| Year        = 2008
| Session     = 32nd
| Link        = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1274
}}
'''San Miguel de Allende''' is the seat of the municipality of Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, a historic town founded in 1542 that has become an attractive tourist destination for wealthy Mexico City residents and has a large American and Canadian expatriate community comprised primarily of retirees.

== Location ==
San Miguel de Allende is located in the eastern part of Guanajuato in Mexico's mountainous ''bajío'' region. The ''bajío'' (low place) is a relatively flat region about  above sea level surrounded by mountains; it is a part of the Mexican altiplano. San Miguel serves as the administrative seat for the surrounding municipality of Allende, Guanajuato.

San Miguel de Allende is located at . The municipality rests at  above sea level. The municipality extends over an area of . To the north it is bordered by the municipalities of Querétaro municipality in the state of Querétaro. The municipal seat is located  from Mexico City and  from the state capital of Guanajuato.

== Population ==
According to the 2005 census, the municipality of Allende had a total of 139,297 inhabitants. Of these, 62,034 lived in the municipal seat of San Miguel de Allende (the ninth-largest community in the state), with the remainder living in smaller surrounding communities within the municipality, the largest of which are Los Rodríguez and Colonia San Luis Rey.  The largest sector of employment among the 39,371 economically active inhabitants was manufacturing (18.1%), followed by construction (16.3%) and retail and wholesale commerce (13.6%).

As of 2006, the elected San Miguel city government officials were using these updated figures compiled from both the Mexican census bureau and from US consulate figures:

* 80,000 residents within the urban area.
* 60,000 residents within the 540 surrounding villages that are a part of San Miguel.
* 11-12,000 foreign residents at any one time, 7,000 of these on residency visas while the remainder are on tourist visas of a maximum of six months.

Of these foreign residents, 70% are from the United States, 20% are from Canada, and the remaining 10% are from 31 other countries. If the 12,000 foreign residents who live in SMA at any one time are considered as a percentage of the SMA urban population, foreigners make up 15% of the SMA population. If the 7,000 foreign residents who are on permanent residency visas, including FM3 and FM2 visas, are considered as a percentage of the total SMA population, foreigners make up 5% of the SMA population.

== History ==
thumb|200px|''La Parroquia'', Church of St. Michael the Archangel
thumb|200px|The Temple of the Nuns
The town was founded in 1542 by the Antiguo Camino Real, part of the silver route from Zacatecas, Zacatecas.  The town featured prominently in the Mexican War of Independence. General Ignacio Allende, one of San Miguel's native sons, was a leading player in the war against Spain for independence. Allende, captured in battle and beheaded, is a national hero. San Miguel el Grande renamed itself "San Miguel de Allende" in 1826 in honor of his actions.

By 1900, San Miguel de Allende was in danger of becoming a ghost town. Declared a national historic monument in 1926 by the Mexican government, development in the historic district is restricted in order to preserve the town's colonial character.  During the Cristero uprising in Mexico, when clergy and their families were persecuted, the grandchildren of Gen. Mariano Escobedo came to San Miguel de Allende, which was conveniently in a secluded condition while verging on being a ghost town.

The six children of the daughter of Mariano Escobedo, Donna Maria del Refugio, were Don Anastasio Lopez Escobedo, Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo, Dr Ignacio Lopez Escobedo, and the sisters, Balbina and Isabella Lopez Escobedo. The elder child was a Cura, a charismatic head priest, Don Jose Lopez Escobedo, for whom the family was persecuted. The Cura Jose Lopez is interred at the main altar under St. Peter in the main Parroquia church of San Miguel, with a beautiful dedication to his work restoring the church in the 20th century. Lopez Escobedo is interred in the Church by the world-famous and miraculous Christ of the Conquest. The family fled their native home hacienda, Hacienda de los Lopez, to San Miguel Allende, where the Escobedo had a home, on Calle de Mesones and where a plaque still identifies the house.

Few descendants from this family live in San Miguel, as only Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo had children. The eldest of his grandchildren is Marcela Andre Lopez, an international teacher and designer of jewel garlands now in residence in the historic district in one of Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo's homes. Sr. Ezequiel Lopez Basurto, son of Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo, has presided over many works by the Rotary Club.

In the early 20th century, the family fortune of the Lopez Escobedo brothers and sisters was largely donated to schools for girls, convents for nuns, or lost to older distant relatives and people helped by the family who falsified papers or discovered hidden treasure after Don Ezequiel's sudden stroke and death. The impoverished barkeeper's assistant who found Don Ezequiel's property deeds and gold kept the find from Don Ezequiel's widow and five children who suffered hardships as orphans. The barkeeper's assistant had leased the store at Calle Relox and San Francisco Street from Don Ezequiel's widow and in the abundant inventory found more than could have been imagined.

== Stirling Dickinson ==
In 1938, Peruvian artist Felipe Cossio del Pomar established San Miguel’s first art school, the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes. It was located in the former convent that houses the present Bellas Artes. He offered the position of Art Director to American artist and writer Stirling Dickinson. Dickinson taught Spanish, botany and landscape painting, as well as taking students on field trips as part of his "Aspects of Mexico" course. 

Dickinson's impact on San Miguel was manifested in many ways.<ref name='virtue'>Virtue, John, ''The Model American Abroad'' ISBN  978-1-59092-405-1</ref> He had arrived in San Miguel before daybreak on February 7, 1937. At the Jardín, Dickinson looked up at the spires of the Parroquia poking through the mist. “My God, what a sight!” he said to himself. “I’m going to stay here.” After five years in San Miguel, Dickinson was named a Favored Adopted Son, the only American to be so honored by the mayor’s office. Two years later, he was honored by the governor for his work with founding a baseball team for young Mexicans. The baseball field he helped build and finance was named Campo Stirling Dickinson.

Dickinson began what was probably the largest private orchid collection in Mexico, a lifelong interest that was highlighted by the discovery of ''Encyclia dickinsoniana'' and having a second named after him in recognition of his work, ''Cypripedium dickinsonianum''.

When Dickinson first arrived in San Miguel in 1937 he and his writing partner had purchased an old tannery on Santo Domingo on the way to the Atascadero Hotel above town for the equivalent of 90 U.S. dollars. The present property is worth in the millions of dollars.

== American veterans ==
thumb|200px|''La Parroquia'', Church of St. Michael the Archangel
In the 1950s, San Miguel de Allende became a destination known for its beautiful colonial architecture and its thermal springs. After GIs discovered that their education grants stretched further in Mexico at the U.S.-accredited art schools, the privately-owned Instituto Allende, founded in 1950, and the Bellas Artes, a nationally chartered school.  

American ex-servicemen first arrived in 1946 to study at the art school. By the end of 1947, Life magazine assigned a reporter and photographer to do an article on this post-war phenomenon. A three-page spread appeared in the January 5, 1948, edition under the headline “GI Paradise: Veterans go to Mexico to study art, live cheaply and have a good time.” This was possible when apartments rented for US$10 a month, servants cost US$8 a month, rum was 65 cents a quart and cigarettes cost 10 cents a pack. 

As a result of the publicity, more than 6,000 American veterans immediately applied to study at the school. Stirling Dickinson thought that San Miguel, which then had a population of fewer than 10,000, could only handle another 100 veterans, bringing the student body to around 140.

thumb|Lage von San Miguel de Allende in Mexiko.
thumb|Blick auf San Miguel de Allende
'''San Miguel de Allende''' ist eine Stadt im mexikanischen Bundesstaat Guanajuato. Sie zählt ca. 120.000 Einwohner und gehört zu den Pueblo Mágico - "magische Orte", die wegen ihres typischen und gepflegten Charakters als besonders sehenswert ausgezeichnet werden.
 
== Geografie ==
San Miguel de Allende liegt südöstlich von Guanajuato in der Bajío-Region, am Rio de la Lara. 

== Geschichte ==
Camino Real. mexikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg eine wichtige Rolle im Kampf gegen die Spanier spielte. Im Jahr 1880 hatte San Miguel de Allende 39.290 Einwohner.

thumb|Parroquía de San Miguel Arcángel 

== Sehenswürdigkeiten ==
* Plaza de Allende
* Parroquía de San Miguel Arcángel (Kathedrale) in rosafarbenen Stein und gotischem Stil  wurde im XVII Jahrhundert gebaut und 1880 nach vorlage das Ulmer Münsters umgebaut.
* Kirche San Francisco im churriguera Stil erbaut.
* Kirche de San Felipe Neri in rosafarbenen Stein und rokoko Stil gebaut. 
* Haus von Ignacio Allende beherbergt heute ein Museum.

San Miguel de Allende ist beliebt bei Künstlern vor allem aus den  USA welche sich hier niedergelassen haben.