Jalisco. Lagos de Moreno: Las Capuchinas

Following up our previous post on the cathedral of Lagos de Moreno, we look briefly at another late colonial monument in that city.

Abutting the old city wall beside the river are the remnants of the rambling former Franciscan convent of Las Capuchinas, the only other colonial church in Lagos de Moreno, which now serves as an arts and cultural center. 

courtesy of Niccolo Brooker

A few old stone doorways have been incorporated into the new brick walls of the present complex, and the nuns’ washhouse still stands in the rear patio.

But the best preserved part of the convent is its former nave front, dating from the mid-1700s, divided by hexagonal buttresses, which flank the traditional double portal of a nun’s church—in this case a pair of austere mannerist doorways. The front is capped by an apron cornice topped by simple belfries and a few headless statues.

The nave reveals a neoclassical makeover, probably some time in the early 1800s.

text ©1997 & 2020 Richard D. Perry