San Juan Bautista Xichú de Indios

From time to time we take a look at less well known colonial churches and missions across Mexico that are overlooked by many students of viceregal art and architecture, but that often possess features of special artistic or historic interest. We like to call them Hidden Gems.

We dedicate this post to Diana Roberts, our friend and fellow aficionada, whose many insights and photographs over the years have contributed greatly to the documenting of Mexico's colonial art and architecture, that is also the mission of this blog.

San Juan Bautista Xichú de Indios (now called Victoria)

Although less well known than the 18th century missions of the Sierra Gorda de Querétaro, this Franciscan frontier settlement was founded much earlier, in the 1500s.
   Located in the northeastern reaches of the Sierra Gorda, in the present state of Guanajuato, a permanent mission was established to help secure the area, then subject to raids from Chichimec tribesmen, and to provide a base for further evangelization in this remote, mountainous region.

1632 map of Xichú (detail)

Although under royal Spanish patronage since 1550, the mission was only firmly established in 1580, and resettled under the native Otomí cacique Don Alejo de Guzmán, who came north from the mining town of Temaxcaltepec, with an interest in developing the silver mines of the region.

Subject to intermittent Chichimec incursions throughout the 1500s and 1600s, the church was partly rebuilt in the later 1600s under secular Diocesan authority. However, the church front retains much of its original sculptural program, including foliated relief carving and Franciscan related details.

A dynamic statue of John the Baptist, the patron saint of the mission, still lodges in an archway high in the church gable, while Franciscan saints Francis and Anthony of Padua stand in niches to either side of the choir window—all bordered by panels of curling vines in sharp relief, supported by angels.

    

The most original and unusual sculptural reliefs embellish the main entry: Sun/lion masks are emblazoned below the fluted half columns of the doorframe.

       

Paired, grotesque style carvings flank the doorway, entwining a variety of motifs that include the Franciscan crossed arms at the top, peacocks, the Lamb of God with a victory banner, and below, running figures enmeshed in vines. Two other crude and curious figures huddle below the column bases, possibly intended as sinners or wild men?

John the Baptist reappears in a tableau above the ornamental baptistry window, grasping a victory banner and baptizing the kneeling Christ in the River Jordan.

This scene is echoed in the window frame below, where a relief portrays a friar baptizing native neophytes.

  

Portería
The double archway of the adjacent convento entry is also still in place, its center pillar set on the heads of angels.

  

The other notable piece of stonecarving at Xichú is the ornate cross in the cloister, dated 1787 on the base.
* Check out our other Hidden Gems: San Felipe Sultepec; San Pablo Malacatepec;  Ocoxochitepec; Mixquiahuala; 

text © 2016 Richard D. Perry.  
illustrations adapted from color images by Diana Roberts

The Apostles of San Felipe Sultepec

From time to time we take a look at rural churches across Mexico with colonial antecedents, that are overlooked by most students of viceregal art and architecture, but that often possess features of special artistic or historic interest. We like to call them Hidden Gems.

San Felipe Sultepec

This modest church, noted for its distinctive soaring tower, rests in a bucolic setting near Calpulalpam in the extreme northwestern corner of Tlaxcala, close to Mexico State.

The broad, arched entry is densely carved with stylized foliage. Above it, a classically framed niche encloses an unusual carved relief portraying two full length figures. 

According to the Latin inscription* that surrounds the niche, the figure on the right is Philip the Apostle, the patron saint of the church, holding a Latin cross and loaf of bread. On the left is St. James Minor, shown here with a club or staff—one instrument of his martyrdom.  

Traditionally they shared the same feast day in May, which may account for their pairing here.

* The inscription quotes from a traditional collect or prayer in the Latin rite honoring specific saints, especially appropriate for their feast days:

"DEUS QUI NOS ANNUA APOSTOLORUM TUORUM PHILIPPI ET IACOBI SOLEMNITATE…

"O GOD WHO MAKES US JOYFUL IN THE YEARLY FEAST OF YOUR APOSTLES PHILIP AND JAMES…

Check out our other Hidden Gems: Xichu de Indios; San Pablo Malacatepec;  Ocoxochitepec; Mixquiahuala; 

text © 2016 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of our friend Niccolò Brooker, who brought this church to our attention.

San Pablo Malacatepec

From time to time we take a look at modest rural churches with colonial antecedents that are overlooked by most students of viceregal art and architecture, but that often possess features of artistic interest. We like to call them Hidden Gems.

Like Ocoxochitepec, San Pablo Malacatepec is a small community in the wooded mountains west of Mexico City close to the Michoacan state line, recently in the news as a possible protected butterfly refuge.
   The pleasant but unexceptional church front retains vestiges of early stonework dating from the 17th century, but the main interest lies in the church interior. 

A handsome but plain wood beamed ceiling of recent vintage leads the eye to the apse, which preserves its older, paneled wooden artesonado ceiling above the main altarpiece.

The unusual aspect of the apsidal ceiling is that it is covered with murals—a feature unique to this region but more closely associated with the painted church ceilings of western Michoacán, which we featured earlier on this blog (map).

Like many of the Michoacán ceilings, the subject of the Malacatepec ceiling is the Virgin Mary, in this case portraying the Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity. 

   The centrally placed figures of the principal actors are flanked by symbols of the Virgin and ribbon like devotional inscriptions, and simply drawn in popular style—probably dating from the late 18th or early 19th century.

   

The keys of St. Peter and the papal cross above the Coronation scene emphasize the diocesan origin of the church—also underlined by the crossed keys emblazoned on the entry gateway.

The narrative scenes in the center are flanked by rows of fleurs-de-lis motifs amid swirling foliage lining the sloping side panels. Various hues of red, orange and blue together with earth colors predominate in the murals.

The Main Altarpiece
Framed in provincial late 18th century style, the handsome red and gilt altarpiece has been recently renovated. It is notable for its statuary, especially the sumptuously appareled figures of St. Peter, again with the crossed keys, and the church patron St. Paul, who occupy the principal side niches.  

     
St. Peter                                              St. Paul
* Check out our other Hidden Gems: Xichu de Indios; San Felipe Sultepec;  Ocoxochitepec; Mixquiahuala; 
text © 2017 Richard D. Perry

images by Niccolò Brooker and Wikimedia

San Martín Ocoxochitepec

From time to time we take a look at modest rural churches with colonial antecedents that are overlooked by most students of viceregal art and architecture, but that often possess features of artistic interest. We like to call them Hidden Gems.

The country church of San Martín Ocoxochitepec (Pine Flower Hill) nestled in the verdant hills of the Valle de Bravo in the northwest corner of Mexico State, is one example. 

  

Now serving as the parish church of nearby Ixtapan del Oro, the building dates back at least to the 17th century—the date 1689 is carved beneath the choir window—although parts of it may be even earlier. 

The rustic doorway, with fluted pilasters and sinuous, carved foliage on the archway, is oddly elevated, although this may have been reduced in height due to flooding.

The other item of interest at Ocoxochitepec is the atrium cross mounted in front of the church, cylindrical in section and carved with a simple ring at the crossing.
* Check out our other Hidden Gems: Xichu de Indios; San Felipe Sultepec; San Pablo Malacatepec;   Mixquiahuala; 

text © 2017 Richard D. Perry.  images by Niccolò Brooker and others

San Mateo Atlatlahucan, the architecture

San Mateo Atlatlahucan

The Augustinians in Morelos

As latecomers to the “spiritual conquest” of Mexico, the Augustinians were often obliged to confine their missionary activities to more remote or less attractive areas beyond or between those occupied by their Franciscan and Dominican rivals. 
   The benevolent northeastern valleys of Morelos were an exception to this pattern. Like the other missionary orders and the Aztec emperors before them, the Augustinians were enchanted by these green valleys clustered below the great volcano of Popocatépetl. Here in a “land of eternal spring” they too envisioned an earthly paradise where St. Augustine’s long dreamed of City of God might at last be realized.
   In 1533 their first primitive mission was founded at Ocuituco. The next year a second house was established at Totolapan and, within the year, two more, at Yecapixtla and Tlayacapan. Over the next decades, they completed the chain of imposing fortress monasteries along the foothills, including Atlatlahucan and Zacualpan, in addition to annexing former Franciscan houses at Tlaquiltenango and Tlaltizapan. 

Here we take a closer look at Atlatlahucan and its colonial arts, focusing first on its classic “fortress” architecture. 

The towering monastery of Atlatlahucan looks more like a medieval castle than a house of God.  An enormous atrium with high crenelated walls, pierced only by a fortified western gateway, guards the western approach to the monastery.

Two of the four original posa chapels have survived, in the southwest and southeast corners. Both have striking pedimented fronts and are capped with domed cupolas and spiky corner merlons. 

  

The Open Chapel

The oldest structure here is the open chapel, attached to the church on its north side.  Side walls flare forward from the small, raised sanctuary at the rear to embrace the arcaded front, framed by an exterior alfiz. A tall, narrow archway at center is surmounted by an espadaña studded with merlons—designed to harmonize with the church front.

© Robert Jackson

The Church 

The soaring west front is a study in verticality; angled buttresses topped with crenellated garitas, a crowning espadaña studded with merlons, long rainstreaks plunging like cataracts from the pinnacles atop the parapet—everything seems to accelerate the heavenward movement.

The martial character of the monastery extends to the arcaded portico and cloister, where ranks of merlons top the buttressed arcades.

Sharp, pyramidal merlons and pinnacles march along every wall and belfry emphasizing the fortress aspect of the church. Basalt crosses carved with Passion symbols top the lateral tower and the atrium gateway.

   

Other examples of early stone carving at Atlatlahucan include the ogival convento doorways and the sanctuary arch in the church sculpted with floral and Passion reliefs.

Looking across Atlatlahucan's battlemented parapets to the twisted gorges of the Sierra de Tepoztlan and the shining plain below, it is easy to feel like a feudal lord commanding his domain from atop the castle wall. 

Note: Our second post on Atlatlahucan, describing the murals, will appear on our sister blog.

text © 1992 & 2017 Richard D. Perry

images by the author except where noted.

Tlaquiltenango: the Franciscan heritage

Despite their success at Cuernavaca, the Franciscans erected few other monasteries within the boundaries of present-day Morelos. Their only other important house was located at San Francisco Tlaquiltenango, in the tropical sugar country to the south.    
   However in 1573 the Dominicans wrested control of the monastery from the Franciscans, who after ten years briefly regained control, only to lose it again to the Dominicans in 1590.   

   This ongoing conflict, with intervals of occupation by both Orders, is reflected in the Dominican repainting of much of the mural decoration within the monastery, which we examined in a post on our sister site.

Richard Perry 1987

However, the basic architecture of the monastery is clearly Franciscan, as evidence its austere, fortress like appearance, and in particular, its open chapel and the distinctive south doorway, which are the focus of this post.

  

© Richard Perry 1987

The South Doorway
The monumental south side of the church is a windowless wall of irregular dark basalt braced at intervals by narrow buttresses edged with white quoining. This rhythm is broken by the pedimented south porch, a country cousin of the great north doorway at Cuernavaca. 

The north doorway at Cuernavaca (© Richard Perry)

 

© Niccolò Brooker

The surmounting alfiz frames a Calvary cross, mounted on a simulated cairn of black boulders atop a skull and bones, and carved with stylized, pierced wounds and a crown of thorns at the crossing.

© Niccolò Brooker

The Open Chapel

Above the convento entry we can still glimpse the recessed archway of the elevated open chapel, also framed by an alfiz that encloses carved reliefs of the Five Wounds and the Cristogram in the center, ringed by the Franciscan cord. 

   An undulating vine with carved fruit and leaves snakes around the arch sprouting from an archaic “sliced mushroom” emblem at the base. 

   

© Niccolò Brooker

text © 2017 Richard D. Perry

color images by the author and Niccolò Brooker