Page 258 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

USA

Montarrey• GUl F OF
MEXICO
ME XI CO

PAOFIC OCEAN G

THE INTERIOR
Like 1ts extenor, the church's interior decoration
is a blend of the three prevailing architectural
styles of the colonial period. The Baroque
altars and side chapels are particularly ornate;
a hi ghllght is the richly carved Altar de los
Reyes. A statue of Christ, the Senor del
Cacao, which probably dates from the 16th
century, IS worshiped in the Cap ilia de San
J ose The statue's name derives from the
donations of coffee beans (a common currency
in the precolonial era) made by the local people
toward the cathedral's construct1on An urn
conta1n1ng the remains of Emperor Agustfn
de lturb1de (1783-1824), the champion of
Mexican Independence, is I ocated in the
chapel of San Felipe de Jesus.
C ONQUISTADORS AND CHRISTIANITY
When the Spanish arrived in the Americas 1n
the 1500s, they encountered flounst.ng
indgenous settlements. In addtion to their
desire for conquest and their greed for gold,
Sliver, copper, and land, the conqu1stadors also
sm themselves as missionaries and attempted
to convert the established Mesoamerican
civilizations from paganism to Christianity.
Franciscan and Dominican friars preached
to, converted, and baptized the indigenous
peoples Although the New World was
ultimately conquered by Europeans, elements
of the 1nd1genous cultures survived and were
absorbed 1nto the developing Chnstian sodety
THE SINKING O F MEXICO CITY
When Span1sh conquistador Heman Cortes led
h1 s army 1nto the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan
in 1521, the city stood on an island in Lake
T excoco. After conquering the city, the Spanish
razed it to the ground, reused much of the
stonework in their own buildings, and gradually A figure of the Virgin, by
filled 1n the lake The Metropolitan Cathedral Simon Pereyns, was replaced
after the 1967 fire with a
was built on the ruins of the main Aztec temple
of worsh1p, whose stones were used in the black Christ which, legend
budd1ng's walls Like so many of Mexico C1ty's says, absorbed the poison
from a devout man who
budd1ngs, the cathedral has been Sinking, kissed it on his deathbed.
almost s1nce rts construction, into the ground
beneath-the slant is quite visible. Restoration
work, mostly carried out underground, has
prevented its collapse.