New Spain Baroque
The combination of indigenous and Arab decorative influences, with an extremely expressive interpretation of churrigueresque, could explain the variety and intensity of the baroque in New Spain. Even more so than its Spanish counterpart, American Baroque developed as a style of stucco decoration. Twin-towered facades of many century American cathedrals have medieval roots.
To the north, the richest province of the century, New Spain, present-day Mexico, produced the fantastically extravagant and visually frenetic architecture that is Mexican churrigueresque. This ultra-baroque style culminates in the works of Lorenzo Rodríguez, whose masterpiece is the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Mexico City (1749–1769). Other notable examples are found in remote mining towns. For example, the sanctuary of Ocotlán "Ocotlán (Tlaxcala)") (begun in 1745) is a baroque cathedral of the first order, whose surface is covered with bright red tiles, which contrast with a plethora of compressed ornaments generously applied to the doorway and the flanks of the towers. The true capital of Mexican Baroque is Puebla, where the abundance of hand-painted tiles and local gray stone led to a very personal and localized evolution of the style, with a pronounced indigenous flavor.
The New Spanish Baroque is an artistic movement that appeared in what is now Mexico at the end of the century, approximately, and that was preserved until the middle of the century. Coming from the Portuguese word barrueco which means impure, variegated, extravagant, daring, the most impressive example of New Spain baroque art is found in religious architecture, where indigenous artisans gave it a unique character. Highlights include the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City with its Altar of the Kings, the church of Santa María Tonantzintla (State of Puebla), the Jesuit convent of Tepotzotlán (State of Mexico), the Chapel of the Rosary in the church of Santo Domingo in the city of Puebla, the convent and temple of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Oaxaca"), and the church of Santa Prisca in Taxco (State of Guerrero).
The baroque ethos shook classical forms and proportions in Mexico to help forge a Mexican identity. The New Spain Baroque is the rediscovery and refoundation of the Spanish heritage, starting in the 19th century. The baroque style represents an experience of cultural survival on the part of the indigenous people, enriching and transforming it. Mexico and the Baroque share their history, with the arrival of the Iberian-European civilization and cultural mixing.
The marginal population of the New Spain cities, overwhelmingly indigenous and gypsy, undertook, around the 20th century, the construction of a new identity (in the face of the failure of the attempt to purely and simply impose European culture through evangelization). It was above all the indigenous people living in the cities who, taking advantage of their otherness, were able to reconstruct the forms coming from the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. The indigenous people had seen their ancestral worldview collapse and were forced to transform their identity, adopting the forms and techniques of the conquerors but with their own content. As a result, they also transformed the way of seeing the world of the Creoles and mestizos of New Spain, all of them creators of current Mexican society.
The cathedrals of New Spain are good examples of the wood style. During the century, large cathedrals began to be built with a predominance of the Plateresque style and the late Gothic style.
At the peak of the New Spain Baroque, the Churrigueresque, the Herrerian style and the New Spain Baroque with polychrome indigenous elements were manifested.
Without a doubt, the cathedral of the city of Puebla is the cathedral that has the greatest mix of architectural styles, making it unique in the world for being a good example of viceregal architecture.
The Palafoxiana Library is considered the first public library on the American continent. Founded by the Spanish bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza in 1646.[4].
Located in the historic center of Puebla de los Ángeles, this library has been the pride of the baroque and Historical Monument of Mexico since 1981. Bishop Palafox donated his personal library, composed of five thousand volumes before the notary Nicolás de Valdivia on September 5, 1646, so that it could be consulted by all those who wanted to study, since his main condition was that it be open to the public and not only to ecclesiastics and seminarians.[5].
The creation of this library was approved by royal decree in December 1647 and reconfirmed by Pope Innocent Although the construction of the vault, as it is today, was carried out in 1773, by Bishop Francisco de Fabián y Fuero, who ordered the construction of the first two floors of the shelf, which is a fine work of New Spain cabinetmakers who harmoniously worked the ayacahuite, polocote and cedar woods. The delicate altarpiece where the effigy of the Madonna of Trapani is located dates from this period, an oil painting that is presumed to have been made using as a model the sculpture that Nino Pisano made of the Virgin in the 19th century. Later, in the 19th century, a third level was placed because the number of volumes found in the library had increased.[6].
After the independence of Mexico in 1821, the Jesuit mission of Our Lady of Loreto went into decline, the Pious Fund of the Californias established in favor of the Jesuits by the Marquis of Villapuente de la Peña and his wife the Marchioness of Torres de Rada), to support the evangelization of the Californias disappeared with their expulsion, the indigenous people of the region disappeared due to the diseases that brought the Europeans to the peninsula, the Franciscan friars, when marching towards Alta California, gave way to the Dominicans who did not bring the substance of the first missionaries, and yet the mission survived abandonment, unlike many other missions founded in the Baja California peninsula by Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican clerics that were abandoned until they completely disappeared.
Today the Mission of Our Lady of Loreto is the jewel of the missions founded on the peninsula. The reactivation of the economy and construction of communications infrastructure in Baja California Sur since the last century has benefited the mission, long gone are the days of deprivation. In 1992, the population of Loreto, former capital of Las Californias, achieved the rank of municipal capital.
The mission was founded in 1699 by Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino, who often visited and preached in the area. The original mission church, approximately 3 kilometers (2 miles) away, was vulnerable to attacks by Apaches who eventually destroyed it around the year 1770. Charles III of Spain banned all Jesuits from Spanish lands in America in 1767 due to his distrust of the Jesuits. From this time on, the Mission of San Xavier del Bac was led by the most flexible "and reliable" Franciscans. The current building was built under the direction of the Franciscan fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain") and Juan Bautista Llorenz") mainly with native labor, which carried out the work in the period of 1783-1797, with a loan of 7,000 pesos and is used mainly by the Christian community of the Tohono O'odham District. Unlike the other Spanish missions in Arizona, San Xavier continues to be active and run by Franciscans; It also continues to serve the native community for which it was built. The San Xavier Mission and the converted Indians were protected by the Tucson presidio, established in 1775.
On the outside, the white Mission has a Moorish-inspired design, elegant and simple, with an ornately decorated entrance. There are no archives of the architects, builders, and craftsmen responsible for creating and decorating it. Most of the work was provided by local Indians, and it is believed that they provided the craft creativity. Guests entering the sculpted mesquite wood doors are struck by the freshness of the interior, and the dazzling colors of the paintings, carvings, frescoes and statues. The interior is lavishly decorated with ornaments showing a mix of New Spain and indigenous artistic ornaments.
The plan of the church represents the classic Latin cross. The main hallway is separated from the sanctuary by the transept, with chapels at either end. The dome above the transept is 16 m high and is supported by arches and esquinches. At least three different artists painted the artwork inside the church. It is considered the mission with the finest Spanish architecture in the United States.
Around the year 1535, the construction of the fortress began, mainly with local coral stone, in order to protect ships from anchoring due to bad weather, but mainly and together with the disappeared system of walls and bastions of the city of Veracruz, to protect this very important port from attacks by pirates and privateers. As time went by, San Juan de Ulúa became the most formidable fortress of its time in this part of the hemisphere.
On September 23, 1568, its walls witnessed the battle of San Juan de Ulúa, in which a fleet of escorts from the Spanish Navy, under the command of General Francisco Luján), defeated a fleet of English pirates under the command of Francis Drake and John Hawkins.
By the beginning of the century and when Mexican independence from Spanish rule was consummated in 1821, the fortress and island became the last bastion of the metropolis to recover its former domain. The fortress capitulated on November 18, 1825.
Those in charge of the work were the teacher Juan de Dios Trinidad Pérez and Francisco Ortiz de Castro. It was completed on November 7, 1809.[7] Its main purpose was the storage of grain, however this function did not last long since a few months later, in September 1810, the city was taken by the independence insurgents.
The prison was an instrument of territorial defense and pacification, initially defending the routes and roads, thus populating northern Mexico. This prison system emerged as a settlement strategy by the Spanish during the Viceroyalty that consisted of a building to defend the soldiers and function as a temporary refuge from attacks, which was dismantled once the area was pacified.
Each prison was built at a safe distance from another that allowed mutual support. When the prison was dismantled, it was forgotten and later became a population that took advantage of any remains of abandoned construction to make their houses, barns and forming the main square that was once the central space of the prison. It was made up of a Chief Officer and 45 men divided into three sections of 15 men each, which took turns standing guard.