The Templo de San Francisco is a remnant of the vast Franciscan monastery erected in the early 16th century over the site of Moctezuma’s private zoo. The monastic complex was divvied up under post-independence reform laws, and in 1949 it was returned to the Franciscan order in a deplorable state and subsequently restored. The elaborately carved doorway is a shining example of 18th-century baroque.
Free open-air art exhibitions are held in the adjoining atrio (atrium). In its heyday the complex extended two blocks south and east.