The first group of the Order of San Agustin arrived in Mexico, after the bloody subjugation of the Aztec Mexico by Spanish Hernán Cortés Monroy in 1520s. Cortés that had sailed out from Santiago de Cuba for the first excursion along the shoreline of Mexico, is remembered as being the man largely responsible for the decimation of the Aztec civilization. Years later, the Augustinians friars set the foot on Cuba first in 1588, arriving from Mexico. The small missionary group settled around the streets of Cuba and Amargura, and waited for an opportunity to establish their convent.

By the help of the Spanish Bishop Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano, the Augustinian friars established their first convent in 1608. It was a modest chapel and dedicated to Our Lady of the Candlemas, occupying the land where the Convento de San Augustín stands today. In 1633, the construction of a spacious church with a large sacristy was very advanced (in 1628 it was opened to the cult), but the building was completed in 1660, by using all the money, collected as alms. The church consisted of the main nave and the collateral with the tower on its north side, both oriented both from east to west.

The church achieved its brilliance in the second half of the 17th century. By 1800s it had already three wide and bright naves. Behind the church, towards the Aguiar street, there was the chapel of the Third Augustinians, preceded by a small atrium. The convent was composed of a simple cloister and a courtyard and it housed the offices for the service of the community, consisting of about thirty holy men living there. The church was devoted to different brotherhoods, like Our Lady of the Candlemas, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Saint Francis of Sales and Our Lady of Victory.

The Order of Saint Augustine is a Catholic religious order, founded in 1244 by bringing together several orders in the Tuscany region that were following the Rule of St. Augustine, written by St. Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century.

The prestigious Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro was established in the Convento de San Augustin in 1818. The workshop and studies of the school were installed in the church until the school was moved to a building in the Dragones street in 1856.

In 1842, the Order of San Agustin disappeared, so that the building became the property of the Third Order of Saint Francis and two years later, in 1844, it passed to the hands of the First Order of Saint Francis. During this period the church was remodeled, and some extensions were made, acquiring the physiognomy that has arrived until the present time. That’s why it has been called Convento de San Francisco. In 1861, the Royal Academia of Sciences was established in the building.

Nowadays, the church continues to be the property of the Fransiscan Order, but the convent is divided. The eastern part of the convent on the Cuba street belongs to the Academia de Sciencias de Cuba (Academy of Sciences of Cuba), including the Museo Histórico de Las Ciencias Medicas Carlos J. Finlay, and the northern part, including the atrium and the chapel of the Third Augustinians, is occupied by the Casa de Cultura Julián del Casal.

A well and some burials were discovered during the archeological excavations in the area of the old atrium.

The Mexican influence, noticeable on the waved crag made out of curves and concavities, is obvious at the facade and the tower of the church.

There is a beautiful altarpiece by Miguel Consistre. The decoration of the dome and the stained-glass windows are outstanding.