San Miguel, Andrés de
SAN MIGUEL, ANDRÉS DE
Carmelite architect; b. Medinasidonia, Spain, 1577;d. Salvatierra, 1644. He studied mathematics in Seville. In 1594 he sailed for the Indies. When he was shipwrecked near Florida, he promised to become a Carmelite religious if he was saved. He kept his promise and entered the order as a lay brother in Puebla in 1598. He specialized in architecture and built the first and most important monasteries of his order in New Spain: Puebla (the chapels were later added to the church); Desierto de los Leones (which was completely rebuilt in 1722); Salvatierra (now changed); Querétaro; Morelia; and San Angel, near Mexico City. He also built a bridge over the Lerma River between Mexico and Toluca. San Miguel established the style of Carmelite architecture: long, narrow churches completed by an apse; reliquary chapels at the sides; belfries instead of towers; a small cloister next to the church; and closed courtyards for the cells. In the library at Austin, Texas, is preserved his manuscript on mathematics and architecture, which contains interesting drawings of wood floors and ceilings in the Mudejar style, in which he was an expert. He worked also on the drainage of the valley of Mexico and was correct in his criticisms of the drainage system devised by Enrico Martínez.
[f. de la maza]