San Lorenzo de Rio Tenco 1. The Architecture

This is the first of three posts on the church of San Lorenzo in Rio Tenco near Cuautitlan northwest of Mexico City.
    Our first post reports on the exterior architecture and sculpture of the church, pages on the main altarpiece and atrium cross will follow.

The Church of San Lorenzo

An imposing late baroque retablo style church front with much sculptural detail has recently been refurbished & heavily whitewashed.   

   

Statues of saints in the facade niches include Paul and the Patron St. Lawrence with his grill.

 

Reliefs include the equestrian figures of saints George and James (Santiago) as well as above the doorway, reliefs of The Virgin of Guadalupe and God the Father  attended by cherubs with cornucopia.

 

A large shell surmounts the recessed northern entry dotted with blackened reliefs, notably of the Holy Trinity.

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry
color images by the author and courtesy of Niccolo Brooker