1931 Glory of Mexico's Cathedrals - 9-Page Vintage Travel Architectural Article

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1931 Glory of Mexico's Cathedrals - 9-Page Vintage Travel Architectural Article
Original, Vintage Magazine article
Page Size: Approx. 10" x 13" (25 cm x 32 cm) each page
Condition: Good
THE CATHEDRAL GATEWAY AT TEPOZOTLAN
The Cathedral of Mexico City is perhaps the most impressive of all the monuments to the architectural genius of Colonial Spam. A gigantic struc-
ture of basalt and gray sandstone, said to be the largest church edifice on this continent, the cathedral was begun in 1573 and completed nearly a
century later in 1667.
THE GLORY OF MEXICO’S CATHEDRALS
Monuments to the Genius of Colonial Spain—The Finest Churches of the
Western Hemisphere—The Religious Pageant in Old Mexico
MEXICO is richer in ecclesiastical architecture than any other
country of the Western Hemisphere. Not only is the cap-
ital a city of domes and towers; the churches of Mexico
are scattered lavishly from one end of the country to the other.
From the top of the pyramid at Cholula, near Puebla, one may
see as many as thirty churches, and not a few of them are archi-
tectural gems. Even on isolated roads or in deserts or in lowly
mining regions, one comes upon buildings of amazing beauty.
The Spanish Colonials were the greatest builders since the
Romans. Upon this land they called “New Spain” they lavished
their genius, endowing it with a civilization monumentally ex-
pressed in terms of churches and convents, government palaces,
residences, hospitals, plazas, acqueducts and fountains. More than
any other part of America, Mexico achieved in enduring archi-
tecture a complete expression of a period and a people.
And since Spanish-Colonial architecture in Mexico represents
Hugo lifetime
THE CATHEDRAL OF TAXCO
In gratitude for the wealth which he secured from the mines of Taxco, the famous magnate, Jose de
la Borda, buill this superb cathedral for the mountain town of Taxco in 1757. The cathedral’s elabo-
rately carved facade and towers combine elements of both the baroque and churrigueresque style. The
interior, with its retablos, its carvings, its golden reliefs and its mural decorations, is remarkable for its
effect of exceeding richness.
THE MECCA OF RELIGIOUS MEXICO
At Guadalupe-Hidalgo is Mexico’s most sacred and popular shrine—the famous shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is to Mexicans what the
Ganges is to the Hindus and Mecca to the Mohammedans. The image of the Virgin, to which from sixty to a hundred thousand Indians pay tribute
during the great pilgrimages, occupies the center of the altar in the Collegiate Church, which is seen in this picture. A statue of the patriot,
Miguel Hidalgo, stands in the foreground.
the most remarkable excursion in design which developed out of
the Italian Renaissance, one of the greatest pleasures in traveling
through this land is to read the reflection in richly carved stone
of those three centuries of Spanish domination in a country whose
vitality the Spaniards never completely crushed.
From the very start, conditions here were favorable for the
development of architecture on a grandiose scale. The Aztecs
were builders of great temples: Cortes himself described them
with admiration in letters he wrote to Charles V. In materials,
too, befitting substantial rather than flimsy construction, the coun-
try was especially rich. The representatives of the Crown had
ample authority for quelling occasional
revolts among the Indians, and, with
pacification insured, prosoerity fol-
lowed. The system of government it-
self contributed to intense building
activity: a union of church and state,
it demanded, in order to impose itself
upon the conquered, a semblance of
might and majesty.
Spain had entered Mexico with the
sword in one hand and the Gospel in
the other, a Gospel whose pagan ritual
at least was familiar and consequently
comforting to the Indians. So, it is not
surprising to read that by 1596, only
seventy-five years after the Conquest,
over four hundred convents had been
built. Of churches there were a thou-
sand in one province alone. At the
end of the colonial period, in 1821, the
total number of churches had reached
nine thousand !
Fear of this “pagan” land, only re-
cently subdued, is reflected in the char-
acter of the earliest Spanish buildings.
Though admirably placed for effect,
like all churches in Mexico, on a slope
or on land artificially raised so as to
dominate the landscape, these early
structures recall the royal decrees pro-
viding for the fortification of temples,
in case of uprisings among the Indians.
Medieval in appearance, with great
blank walls, grim battlements and small
entrances, they suggest a suspicion on
the part of the Spaniards that of
those eight hundred thousand Indian
baptisms achieved within ten years a
good part perhaps were only skin-deep.
Enclosed by a high, massive wall
topped by Moorish battlements and
containing within a conspicuous tall
cross, a cemetery as well as open air
mortuary chapels, the plazas of these
churches like those of the California
missions are sanctuaries, the earliest
Christian sanctuaries in America.
Our California missions are only
crude, provincial counterparts of these
sixteenth-century Mexican churches
whose beauty has only recently found
a just appreciation. Here, at the very
start, stones speak: the world of me-
dieval Spain is giving way to the
brighter one of the Renaissance. The
styles themselves, often a mixture of
romanesque, mudejar (that used by! the
Christianized Moors in Spain) and
plateresque (so-called because the
molding in low relief resembles the
work of silversmiths), were those then
in vogue in the mother country, where
Gothic was dying out.
Some of these churches might have...
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