Church of San Francisco, Colonial religious structure in Centro Histórico, Mexico City, Mexico

The Church of San Francisco is the third church built on this site, constructed between 1710 and 1716 after the first two sank into the soft soil. Its main facade, dating from 1710, is walled in; entry is through the Balvanera Chapel, added in 1766 and attributed to Lorenzo Rodríguez, with estipite columns and medallions. Inside, an 18th-century altarpiece is dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Founded in 1525, this was the Franciscan order's headquarters in New Spain, led by Martín de Valencia, and grew into the colony's largest monastery, covering 32,224 m². The present church is the third on the site: the first two sank into the soft lakebed, and this one was built between 1710 and 1716. After the Reform Laws it was sold in 1868 and most of the complex was demolished.

The chapel's statues were removed when an Evangelical sect held it, but volutes, sculpted leaves and flowers and estipite columns with medallions remain. Inside is an 18th-century altarpiece to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Japanese envoys of Hasekura Tsunenaga's 1614 embassy were baptised here.

The Madero Street entrance leads into the Balvanera Chapel, not the main church; from there you pass into the nave. The 1710 main facade is walled in and cannot be seen. The building is sinking, so a short flight of stairs descends from the atrium to the church floor. The old cloister on Gante Street, now a Methodist church, opens only with prior authorization.

The first two churches on this site sank into the soft lakebed and were demolished; the present building was begun on 4 November 1710 and finished six years later. Its main facade, dating from 1710, is walled in, so entry is through the adjoining Balvanera Chapel, built in 1766 and attributed to Lorenzo Rodríguez, architect of the Metropolitan Tabernacle.