The magnificent San Agustín de Acolman, an archetypal 16th c. New Spanish fortified convent founded by Augustinian friars, is located on a plateau northeast of Mexico City on the way to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Although the overall impression is Iberian Gothic, the façade of the convent church provides an outstanding example of the Renaissance-influenced Plateresque style.

The fortress-like appearance of the Acolman convent (Náhuatl: "encircled by water") testifies to the unsettled times immediately following the Conquest. The foundation stone was laid as early as 1539, but construction of the existing church began only around the middle of the 16th c., the façade dating from 1560. Even when the actual convent building was completed in 1571, parts of the church were still unfinished. By 1580 the convent was occupied by 24 monks, nineteen devoting themselves to their studies while five engaged in converting the Indians.

The convent building was badly damaged by floods in the 19th c. and again in the 1930s.
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