Barroco Poblano: San Miguel Xoxtla

Although there was primitive chapel here, dedicated to the supposed local appearance of the Archangel Michael, as early as the mid-16th century, the present church, recently rehabilitated, dates from 1775, according to a plaque inside.

The atrium gateway, encrusted with sinuous carved stucco ornament, anticipates the treatment of the popular baroque church front, with reliefs of saints Peter and Paul in the spandrels above the archway.

 

The gateway also features a relief of the patron saint, St Michael, dressed in green, as well as a basalt cross atop the gable carved with Passion symbols. 

San Miguel reappears in the church facade gable, again clad in green, together with two other archangels—St. Raphael and the Guardian Angel—flanking the choir window below. 

Another sculpted basalt cross surmounts the facade. 

 Please review our earlier posts on the folk baroque churches of Puebla: San Jeronimo Aljojuca; Santa Inez Xanenetla; Tlancualpican;  Santa Ana Jolalpan; Santa Maria Jolalpan;  San Simón Quecholac; San Pablo de Las Tunas; Atzompa; 

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of Niccolo Brooker and from online sources