New Mexico is a place where North America's leading indigenous cultures had developed. After Spain had advanced there, a unique architecture that fused local and colonial culture grew.
The representative of the unique architecture is a church that remains mainly in indigenous villages. It can only be called New Mexico's locality.
The church in Laguna and the church in Santa Fe were established in the early 17th century and have a mysterious facade. The interior of the Laguna church, which is prohibited to photograph, is also splendid. Geometric motifs on the indigenous world view are painted on the walls, and Christian statues are housed in the shrines pierced between them. Christianity and local religion intersect. The altar by the New Mexican creator had an intense red coloration. It reminded me of the red of the Spanish Romanesque religious paintings exhibited at the Catalunya Museum in Barcelona. During the colonial period, arts were brought from Spain to the New World. The altar creator trained in Mexico as the cultural center of that time. It may be the result of the combination of cutting-edge international culture that he learned with remote localism.
In the 18th century, it also developed into a style unique to New Mexico with two towers and a balcony. Two churches in Taos are such examples, and the buttress like a tail is also attractive.
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San Jose de la Laguna Mission in Laguna
San Miguel Mission in Santa Fe
San Francisco de Asis Mission in Taos
San Geronimo Mission in Taos
reference
"Built of Earth and Song" (Marie Romero Cash, Red Crane Books, 1993)
"Historic New Mexico Churches" (Annie Lux, Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2007)
"ニューメキシコ-第四世代の多元文化" (加藤薫, 新評論, 1998)
"ニューメキシコの建築-石と土と光の教会" (ヨウ箱守・市原出, 丸善, 2000)
Wikipedia
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