Adding to my previous posts on outstanding colonial fountains,* this is a post on the example in the monastery at Ocuituco.
As the capital of the state of Hidalgo, Pachuca has surprisingly few important colonial monuments. The church and former convento of San Francisco, though, are among the oldest religious buildings in the city and the largest and most important. Founded in 1595 by the Franciscans, the chapel was built and finally completed between 1660 and 1667.
Later, in the year 1732, the convento of Pachuca was chosen to house the Apostolic College of Propaganda FIDE, an important Franciscan evangelical institution. During the 1770's the College achieved its greatest influence, as missionaries trained here went to regions as far away as the New Kingdom of León and Nueva Santander (today the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas).
The Temple of the convent of San Francisco.
Its façade is of simple proportions, fashioned in a tiered baroque style, and reputedly designed by one Fray Francisco de Torantos.
Part of the façade was destroyed by dynamite in 1924 during the Delahuertista rebellion and has been subsequently restored.
The whitewashed facade contrasts with the rough stonework of the tower base and flanking buttress; it rises in three tiers and features openings with a variety of frames.
Nuestra Señora de la Luz
The principal chapel is that of Nuestra Señora de la Luz, located behind the main church. Built in the late 1700s it presents a simple facade of coarse masonry.
The whitewashed interior is notable for its magnificent gilded altarpiece, fashioned in the sumptuous late baroque estípite style.
The first tier showcases the richly robed statue of St Joseph with the Christ child. The flanking niches framed by complex estípite pilasters hold statues of Franciscan saints Philip of Jesus and San Pascual Bailón.
In the center of the retablo is a late colonial painting of the patron saint in her classic pose, saving a youth from the jaws of hell, signed by the poblano artist Lopez Herrera?
On the upper level a grand gilded niche houses the figure of La Purísima accompanied on either side by statues of Sts Pedro Regalado and Pedro de Alcántara.
text © 2024 Richard D. Perry
images courtesy of Niccolo Brooker and online sources
In our occasional series on Lost Missions of Yucatan, we focus here on the unrestored country church at Lalcah, now in the state of Quintana Roo.
Located a few kms south from the great roofless frontier church at Tihosuco, on which it may have been once dependent, the village, abandoned until recent times, retains the shell of its late colonial country church.
The surviving fragments include much of the masonry facade, and most interestingly, its painted, 17th century? wall retablo in the former apse of the church.
The Facade
A broad triangular facade, its steep lines reflecting the original thatched nave roof, is notable for its double entry. The plain facade also features three windows, at one time opening above a wooden choir loft burned during the 19th century Caste War, following which the church and pueblo were abandoned. The loft was accessed by a stone stairway, still standing, its opening beside the west doorway.
Arched openings along the roofless nave give access to the exterior, indicating its probable original function as as open chapel.
The Apse and retablo
Originally, as now, this area was roofed in rough masonry and retains the most interesting feature of the church: its painted wall retablo, a rare colonial survival. Divided by pairs of plain pilasters, it features several niches that retain significant traces of the original painted figures of archangels.
This modest church, now serving as the chapel of the eponymous Hacienda in whose lands it is located, is of considerable importance in the history of the region.
Founded in the 16th century under the auspices of the first Governor of Nueva Galicia, Cristóbal de Oñate, it represents the beginning of the evangelization of the area by the Augustine order , a precursor structure to their larger convento at nearby Tacámbaro.
Boasting a surprisingly ornate carved entry that dates in part from its founding, the chapel has been added to over the centuries and was recent stabilized and restored.
The church of the pilgrimage town of Purísima Chumayel, retains a classicYucatecan front, capped by a soaring espadaña.
Also of note here are first the gilded main altarpiece, dated 1738, fashioned in a late baroque style with delicate columns and passages of golden filigree.
In previous posts we looked at colonial statuary from the state of Chiapas. In this post we review a selection of the statues we featured in our other guidebooks*
Last year we published images of two exceptional equestrian statues in the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
In this post we look at a few other fine statues from the colonial period in Chiapas.
The saint gestures dramatically, the gushing arrow wounds on his limbs contrasting with his floral skirt, worked in a rich estofado embroidery.
Lastly we focus on a statue of the early Jesuit, St Francis Borgia, one of several portraying Jesuit notables contained in the spectacular early 18th century altarpiece at Teopisca, south of San Cristóbal, and formerly located in the Jesuit church of San Agustín, also in San Cristóbal.
Set on a pedestal in a shell like niche, as with the previous two statues, the saint is wrapped in a sumptuous robe embroidered in rich estofado style.
text and drawn images © 1994 & 2024 Richard D. Perry
all rights reserved
