{J} 15: Metropolitan Cathedral timeline
500+ years of floating Jesus in the watery subsoil of Mexico
Sometimes I get so caught up in writing the final drafts of articles that I forget—despite my early 2000s bloggy roots!—that a big part of the fun of creating something is sharing the process of creation. And so today I’m sharing some of my notes on Mexico City’s cathedral.
I’ve been spending the several months reading and researching the building formally known as (deep breath) The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven of Mexico City. Heaven, in this case, presumably being sub-surface, as the cathedral sank an average of seven meters since its completion in 1816. The city intervened to stop the sinking in the 90s, calling on Italian engineers to use the same methods that prevented the Tower of Pisa from continuing its lean dirtward.
I suppose it’s obvious, but what’s interesting to me about the cathedral is that it’s an interesting cypher for Mexico’s history: religion, government, education, all that. It took almost 250 years to build, a timespan that includes everything from the post-conquest through independence and revolution.
That’s also what makes a handbook article so imposing to write. Where do you start? What do you include? What don’t you?
That’s the challenge I’m working on now.
The timeline below is taken from my notes.
It’s wildly incomplete, up to and including the references, which point to everything from JSTOR to wikipedia. You will forgive the inconstant use of properly formatted footnotes. Some of the copy has been duplicated wholesale from its source (again, notes). That said! This timeline might prove useful or at least edifying (same thing), should you at all be interested in pursuing your own research. Should you notice anything amiss or wish to add anything, please be so kind as to drop a comment!
sign of the cross,
-s.
A wildly incomplete but nonetheless useful timeline, with links, of the Metropolitan Cathedral’s construction
1524: first cathedral built by Martin de Sepulveda, under orders of Cortés. Used Templo Mayor stones.
1544: the ecclesiastical authorities ordered the construction of the cathedral in New Spain
1528: Friar Juan de Zumarraga arrives as first bishop of the New Spain diocese (Eugenio Noriega Robles, "The Mexico City Cathedral," Artes de México, no. 182/183 (1975): 34.)
1532: The original cathedral project is terminated by Zumarraga
1555: first Mexican provisional council, which ordered missionaries to evangelize to Indians in the local language (Nahuatl, among others). The decision to teach the local population in their language led to the famously syncretic version of Catholicism that exists in Mexico today. It’s worth quoting at length from The Oxford History of Mexico (p. 111):
This methodological approach, known as guided syncretism (combining of beliefs and practices), made for some complicated, fascinating problems, especially when missionaries sought to align concepts of the native deities with those of the Christian God and Satan. At issue was the fact that the native gods were multifaceted and appeared in various manifestations, possessing both positive and negative attributes.
For example, priests generally selected Tezcatlipoca (accompanied by Quetzalcóatl) as the supreme being, because one of his manifestations was that of Lord Possessor of the Near, Possessor of the Surrounding, Possessor of Heaven and Earth. Although this was a suitable correlation, Tezcatlipoca had no particular moral authority, being considered neither good nor evil. In addition, Tezcatlipoca was also known as the trickster and ruler over chaos. The Franciscans sometimes used this manifestation to express satanic evil. Thus, the friars were continually forced to clarify which Tezcatlipoca they were referring to. A more common correlation to the devil was the Nahua tecolotl or human owl, an apparitional spirit associated with sickness, death, the night, and the underworld. However, the tecolotl was a type of nahualli, or spirit, not a teotl, or high deity.
Today you can see the results of this process in e.g., worship of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the persistence—popularity—of Santa Muerte, among others. (Perhaps the best resource for the latter is Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint, by R. Andrew Chestnut.)1562: project for the larger cathedral began—it was to be a seven-bay building with an east-west orientation
1570: plan modified by Claudio de Arciniega to a north-south orientation. He’s the one credited as the designer and “master builder” today.
The cathedral has many fathers. Arciniega is the builder most commonly referred to as its original designer, though many additions and changes were made after his passing. Arciniega was registered as master builder in 1570 and afterwards and held the post of "alarife" (city architect) of Mexico City from 1574 to 1577, and later as "Official Architect of the Viceroyalty" in which capacity he took part in building the Old Cathedral in Puebla; designed the Castle of San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz harbor; drew up instructions for laying out the highway between Veracruz and Mexico City; and was called in to participate in the drainage works of the mines at Taxco … from Efraín Castro Morales, "The Master Builders of the Mexico City Cathedral," Artes de México, no. 182/183 (1975): 145.
1573 to 1813: The cathedral was built in sections around the original church eventually replacing it entirely.
1585: chapels were under construction
1615: walls had reached half height
1625: original church demolished in 1625 bc it was believed to be too modest
1629: Great Flood. Work paused until 1635.
1659: La Capilla de Los Reyes designed by the Spanish artist Enrique Verona
1667: interior completed
1675: central part of the main façade completed.
1696: work on the choir section begins
1718 to 1725: construction of the Retablo de Los Reyes, the paintings and artwork that sit within La Capilla de Los Reyes
As a bit of an aside, it’s fascinating to review the selection of saints included in the retablo. Not just their somewhat misogynistic placement (women on the bottom, men at the top), but also understanding that saints were chosen based on their popularity and significance at the time. Kind of like the Oscars in that way: what wins isn’t necessarily what people will remember or venerate years later. That’s why you can see e.g. a painting of Saint_Margaret_of_Scotland (bottom left in the schematic above 1C.RC.1), whose preserved head was once borrowed by Mary Queen of Scots as a relic to assist in her own childbirth. Jazz hands: christianity!
1736: the two organs are completed
The choir (el coro) in the cathedral is two levels. The upper level contains the two largest 18th-century organs in the Americas. The original windchests and pipework, which survive to this day, weigh 17 tons. Visiting the choir today costs 30 pesos. (John Fesperman, "The Mexican Legacy of Organs," The Musical Times 125, no. 1692 (February 1984): 107-109)
1737: La Capilla de Los Reyes dedicated 23 september, 24th birthday of Principe de Asturias, the future Fernando VI, the third ruler of the Bourbon Dynasty
1749: beginning of construction of El Sagrario, which would be completed by 1760
1791: towers completed, work done by Manuel Tolsa, who modified the upper part of the main bay of the central facade, adding the clock and figures, work that finished in 1813 during the Mexican War of Independence.
Tolsa also created the Equestrian statue of Charles IV (known as El Caballito) (1796–1803; cast on August 4, 1802). That statue used to sit on Reforma, but which is now symbolized by a giant yellow horse that doubles as a steam vent. Tolsa’s work now sits in front of the Mexican National Art Museum in Centro. He also made the bust for the grave of Cortes in the Hospital de Jesus
Due to the fact that it took nearly 250 years to build, the design incorporated the integration of a number of architectural styles, including Gothic, Baroque, Churrigueresque, and Neoclassical as each was to become popular
1816: ⛪️⛪️⛪️ cathedral completed ⛪️⛪️⛪️
1824: the remains of some heroes of the Independence of Mexico were interred behind the Retablo de Los Reyes, including Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla , Ignacio Allende , Juan Aldama
1857: Laws of Reform severs link between church and state, all church property nationalized, etc
1858: earthquake
For more on Mexico’s earthquakes, see Julian’s: Land of Terrible Motors
1917: the revolutionary government issued a new Constitution that further restricted the actions of the church
1925: President Calles orders that the heroes of independence be moved to the Angel of Independence monument on Reforma (as covered in the Julian’s piece on El Ángel: Winged Goddess of Earthquakes and Bones).
1926: President Calles started an open repression that lead to a socio-religious upheaval against the government known as La Cristada
1940s: large portions of the cathedral’s basement were emptied to diminish the weight of the building to prevent it from sinking. The floor was reinforced by steel.
1967: fire led to the discovery of previously hidden treasures, including more than 50 paintings, historical documents concerning Hernán Cortes and the burial place of the first governor of Veracruz, Miguel Barrigan
1972: restoration of the choir begins after the fire
1978: workers from the Electric Light Company were digging at the corner of Guatemala and Argentina streets (at the NW corner of the Cathedral, where the Museum of the Templo Mayor is now) when they discovered a stone carved with a series of reliefs.
From Julian’s: Over the course of several days, what they eventually uncovered was a 3.25 meter wide circular monolith of a decapitated and dismembered female nude. This, it turned out, happened to be a depiction of the Aztec goddess of the Milky Way, Coyolxauhqui. And that goddess, it turned out, is what inspired the Mexican government to begin excavating the Templo Mayor in earnest. The monolith had rested against the wall of the cathedral for several years before being lost. American soldiers had used it for target practice during the occupation of Mexico City from 1847 to 1848.
1989: Restoration work begins. Since its completion in 1816, the cathedral had settled an average of seven meters. The technique chosen, under-excavation, had previously been employed with the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The renovators intentionally sunk some “harder” areas further to bring them into alignment with others that had sunk more rapidly. (Amanda Reeser O, "Retroactive Foundations: The Catedral Metropolitan," PRAXIS: Journal of Writing + Building 1, no. 2 (2001): 96)
2017: earthquake damages the cathedral, and restoration work was undertaken aided by digital mapping technology
Handbook Table of Contents
As a reminder, we’re building a travel handbook here. The following ten chapters will comprise the first Julian’s Handbook to Mexico City:
The Pavement of Paradise
El Zócalo and La Bandera NacionalEl Templo Mayor
The origins of the AztecsCatedral Metropolitana
Publishing June ‘24. The conquest, the razing of temples, and Mexico’s complicated relationship with CatholicismEl Paseo de Reforma
Publishing July ‘24. Mexico City’s main thoroughfare: built by the last emperor of Mexico’s to shorten his commute, paved by the last dictator of Mexico’s to burnish his reputation—to equal, he said, the Champs-ElyséesMonumento a la Revolución
Publishing August ‘24. What happens when you overthrow a dictator while he’s building a new house.El Monumento de Cuauhtémoc
Publishing August ‘24. The tragic story of Descending Eagle, the first man to defend the patria from foreignersEl Ángel de Independencia
Mexico City's most recognizable landmark is home to revelers, protestors, tourists, and the pilgrim bones of Mexico's heroes of independenceLos Niños Heroes
Publishing September ‘24. The Mexican-American War, the invasion of Mexico City, and the children fighters who, according to the legend, lost their livesEl Castillo de Chapultepec
Publishing October ‘24. Built by the man who gave the city of Galveston its name, later home to Mexico’s last emperor, and today a helluva art museum. More of a palace, really.El Carcamo de Dolores
The art museum (and terminus of an engineering marvel) where Mexico City celebrates its toxic relationship with water
📕 What is Julian’s?
Julian’s is a handbook for curious travelers written by Steve Bryant, who lives and works in Mexico City. Julian’s is named for his grandfather, a very handsome southerner who never traveled anywhere, but who now has a travel newsletter named after him, so who knows where his namesake will end up. The wordmark for Julian’s is designed in Frustro, a typeface inspired by the Pemrose Triangle, and which represents impossible objects—appropriate for Mexico City, which Salvador Dali once described as more surreal than his art. More about your host, Steve Bryant, at thisisdelightful.com.