San Pedro y San Pablo College (Museum of Light)

The San Pedro y San Pablo College colonial church and school complex built in late 16th and early 17th centuries, located in the historical center of Mexico City district of Mexico City, Mexico.

Today the church section of the complex houses the Museum of the Constitutions of Mexico−Museo de las Constituciones. The former school section of the complex stretches along San Ildefonso Street to Republica de Venezuela Street.

San Pedro y San Pablo College was the second college founded by Jesuits in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Jesuit missionaries were sent to the new colony in the 16th century for Jesuit Reductions version of Indian Reductions, and to found new missions and schools. The missionary group that founded the college was led by Father Pedro Sanchez. and the official founding occurred in 1574 with the name of Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo (Great College of Saints Peter and Paul). It was called "Máximo" because it was built to oversee the training of priests in Mexico City, Tepotzotlan, Puebla, Guadalajara, Zacatecas, Guatemala and Mérida.

Construction of the facility began in 1576, funded by Don Alonso de Villaseca and others. The college's church, on the corner of El Carmen and San Ildefonso, was built by Jesuit architect Diego Lopez de Arbaizo between 1576 and 1603. The church annex was completed in 1603 by Diego Lopez de Albaize, and the rest of the college complex was finished in 1645.

The purpose of the college was to provide university-level education to young Criollo men, at least partially descended from white European colonial settlers. It was divided into the Lesser Schools, which taught humanities and Greek/Latin grammar, and the Superior Schools, which focused on theology, the arts and philosophy. The institution educated young men for both religious and secular vocations. Two of its more notable alumni are Francisco Javier Alegre and Francisco Javier Clavijero, reaching its peak during the first half of the 18th century when it had about 800 students enrolled.

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