In the city of Campeche, formerly Kin Pech, each neighborhood, or barrio, is testimony to a historical process that tells a particular story of conquest, colonization and relationship with the original Mayan people. As a result of these specific dynamics, each barrio forged its own identity: its church, its square, its patron's festival, its park, its food and its rich anecdotes.
Barrio de San Francisco
This is the central barrio of Campeche, the one with the largest Mayan population when the Spanish arrived and one of the two oldest. Here stands the city's first church, part of its oldest monument: the Convent of San Francisco, built in 1546, the operational center for the evangelization of the entire Peninsula. It was here that Martín, son of Hernán Cortés, stayed and where his first child was born. Today, locals come to the plaza for tamales and horchatas, and to visit the Green Cross on the day of the Holy Cross.
Barrio de San Román
Established on the seashore, this barrio is famous for the Black Christ of its church, patron saint of fishermen and sailors. The statue is said to have arrived in 1565 from Italy, in a miraculous journey, after inexplicably surviving a storm in which much larger ships were wrecked. Today it is the most venerated religious figure on the Peninsula; each year the Campechanos celebrate its arrival with a procession toward the ocean that continues in boats.
Barrio de Santa Lucía
When the conquerors arrived they found an organized, peaceful Mayan population here, which kept its own government for a time. The first church is believed to have been a palm-roofed structure that gave way to a hermitage; this served as a hospital in the early 19th century, during the scourge of smallpox, and by the 1970s became the current church. Its park comes alive on Sunday afternoons, when people gather to stroll and eat antojitos.
Barrio de Santa Ana
This fertile area of wells and fruit trees was settled by farmers and families in service to the Spanish; over time it filled with farms, country houses and orchards. The church of Santa Ana, the heart of the barrio, began as a sascab (white earth) and quarry site, and by the mid-18th century became the austere, robust Franciscan enclosure we know today. Around 1830, the Alameda de Santa Ana park was built.
Barrio de Guadalupe
Built in a coastal area, it has been known as the stately barrio for its mansions and colonial buildings. Established around the Hermitage of Guadalupe, it was settled by immigrants from the Canary Islands and other regions of Spain, who built their livelihoods around fishing and marine life. Its church houses an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe venerated every December 12 by the faithful from all over the Peninsula.
Our houses sit in the heart of these neighborhoods.
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