Santa María de San Juan

The Church of Santa María de San Juan is known also as the Church of the 100 Saints (Iglesia de los Cien Santos). Unassuming from the outside, inside you’ll find what is likely the biggest collection of religious portraiture of in the Valley of Mexico. In fact, as the photos will show, 100 saints is something of an understatement.

The collection began with a priest named Father Humberto. His preference for the painted images led to votive paintings of the saints. Soon, many of the popes were added. Other religious figures and painted scenes from the bible soon followed. Some 25 years ago, the simple altar and chairs began to take on an altogether different appearance.

The original acquisitions were better quality oil paintings. Many of these were created by an Iztapalapa painter named Dominguez. But parishioners soon began contributing their own favorite saints. Soon the church was teeming with depictions of the Virgin, and a whole a range of religious iconography. It’s a space of orderly obsession, and careful delineation. And while there are a few remaining spaces to be filled few will doubt the church’s place in the neighborhood.

The church is roughly a 23-minute walk from Metro Constitución de 1917. Some visitors will stop in on their way to or from the Utopia Meyehualco which about a 15-minute walk northeast from the church.