Barrio San Ignacio, Iztapalapa

The Barrio San Ignacio was a chinampa neighborhood through the colonial period. Like Santa Barbara to the west, it was part of the ancient half-town of Atlalilco until the middle of the 19th century. Nearly uniquely, it retained its older name of Ticoman, sometimes written as Ticomac, through most of this time.

Like the neighboring communities, it was later tied to the colonial-era town of Iztapalapa de Cuitlahuac. Together the eight barrios today make up the Historic Center of Iztapalapa. All of them play the most prominent parts in the famous Semana Santa observations leading up to Easter Sunday.

But again like all of them, these tiny farming communities weren’t seen as needing chapels, much less full-fledged parish churches. The chapel we see today, the Capilla San Ignacio de Loyola, was begun only in 1940. It was preceded by a number of open-air chapels. The dome was completed only in the 1990s.

Today, the Barrio San Ignacio is home to some of the oldest and most densely populated streets in the city. Their layout indicates that they were in use long before automobiles. The chapel is at the very southern limit of the neighborhood. Remember, northward were chinampas and so some of the winding streets were likely canals. It’s directly west from the Macroplaza and Center of Iztapalapa, about a 5-minute walk.