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MEXICO MAGICO
TRIUMPHS and TRAGEDY... A history of the Mexican people |
CHAPTER IV, The Forefathers - The Baroque Years (74th part continues...)
By Prof. German Estrada - February 2007 |
III
The century had its twists and turns. The new clung to the old. Of the arts, Baroque lost popularity, replaced by the Churrigueresque, even more ornate. Still the Baroque survived. Coexisting with the new style in both church and civil architecture. Once thought simply an offspring of the Spanish architect josé Churriguera, the new style had complex origins. Churriguera bequeathed, intentionally or not, his name to the genre, which arrived in Mexico with Gerónimo de Balbas, a native of Sevilla who, in 1718, worked on the altar of the kings in the cathedral of Mexico City. The Churrigeresque spread rapidly throughout the colony, until late in the century when the Neoclassical became popular.
Originally believed merely a copy of the Baroque, Churrigueresque stamped its unique trademark on the building of the era. Unlike the Baroque, which did not disturb traditional blueprints, Churrigueresque architecture tampered with the logic of unorthodox design, altering proportion, profiles, and fundamental tenets appearing to challenge, to cite a Mexican scholar, the laws of gravity. The Churrigueresque was not just “destructive” but, more than that, “gloried in being so.” Its design replaced habitual column of Baroque architecture with the estipite, or reversed pyramid, building supports of cylindrical or quadrilateral form.
The Churrigueresque achieved its most notable expression in the temples, old or newly built, and in the redesign of lay buildings and the construction of other ones. With a plethora of ornaments and decorations, the Churrigueresque covered their walls and ceilings. One of the churches of Cholula, to illustrate, feature ceilings of grotesque masks, each molded as though sculptured in relief, which assumed diverse shapes and colors. A cacophony of faces peered down on the worshiper. So intricate and so complex were Churrigueresque altars that few understand how the design was done. A sculpture in relief far more elaborate than those of the Baroque embellished the façades of doorways and bell towers.
Experts judge the Churrigueresque the most Mexican of art styles, referring to it as the symbol of Mexican nationality. In their opinion, it revived the spirit of pre-Hispanic art. The abhorrence of empty space and the rush to decorate it testified to the lingering influence of the Indian as artist and sculptor. Centuries of subjugation had failed to erase his presence.
Churrigueresque architecture reflected the prosperity of the eighteenth century, a society enjoying fully its mining bonanza. Examples of it abounded. In Mexico City were the temples of the Santísima Trinidad, San Francisco, Santa Veracruz, and Enseñanza. In Querétaro rose the majestic temples of Santa Clara and Santa Rosa, their bejeweled interiors flaunting their supremely ornate design. South of Mexico City, in Puebla, the Churrigueresque dominated the temples of San Francisco and San José: Monuments to the Churrigueresque were found elsewhere: in San Luis Potosí, the chapel of Aranzazu; in Hidalgo, the façade of the temple at Atitalaquia; Oaxaca had its temple of San Francisco; Guadalajara also a chapel of Aranzazu. On the desolate northern frontier of Coahuila, inhabitants of Saltillo, at the urging of their priest, build a sumptuous temple in the Churrigueresque manner; few buildings matched in decor and richness of ornamentation the design of its entranceway.
Civil architecture, while less impressive, also had its day in the sun. In Mexico City, both the palace of the viceroys and that of the Ayuntamiento came under the spell of the Churrigueresque, as did the Colegio de San Ignacio and Real Pontifícia Universidad. Guadalajara had its Palacio de la Audiencia de Nueva Galicia; Aguascalientes, its building for the Ayuntamiento; and Michoacán, the Colegio de Pátzcuaro. During the century, every hospital in New Spain was rebuilt from the ground up in grand style of the Churrigueresque. Two stood out: the Hospital of San Pedro in Puebla and the Hospital de Belén in Guadalajara.
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Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Zacatecas Churrigueresque Obradoido façade
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Churrigueresque columns on the facade of the Cathdedral
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In the next issue we’ll continue with Chapter V of this fascinating book, The Baroque Years.
Prof. Germán Estrada
E-mail: estradanav@yahoo.com
Source: From the book Triumphs and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People by his author Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, and with his authorization. (W.W. Norton & Company. New York-London).
Prof. Germán Estrada is the author of the best selling book, México Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books, Books as well as directly from his website.
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