Religious architecture forms a permanent legacy of the Church’s wealth. As with colonial art, colonial architecture used imported styles, albeit in a freer manner modified to reflect Mexican reality. Large walled patios in front of churches accommodated multitudinous Indian converts. At the same time, the fortress-like design of many early monasteries reflected the danger of Indian attack.231
Church buildings often reflected a variety of stylistic influences. Indigenous craftsmen worked the materials, imparting their own decorative flourishes. As James Early remarked in his study of colonial architecture, “The energy of popular workmanship and the imaginative vitality of popular decorative taste have created much of the enduring appeal of Mexican viceregal architecture.” These indigenous craftsmen took pride in their work and saw the church as the visual embodiment of their community.232
Early church architects in Mexico attempted, as did their Protestant counterparts, to emulate the simplicity of the primitive church of Christ. Protestant architects in Europe continued to stress simplicity, claiming that ornamentation should not distract worshippers from God. In contrast, Baroque church architects in Mexico felt that church adornment temporarily obliterated the misery of mundane life with a foretaste of paradise. The Augustinians, the most lavish mendicant builders, argued that if God had inspired Solomon to build a lavish temple, nothing should prevent them from doing likewise.233
World History
