The Open-Air Churches of Sixteenth-Century Mexico

Harvard University Press has partnered with De Gruyter to make available for sale worldwide virtually all in-copyright HUP books that had become unavailable since their original publication. The 2,800 titles in the “e-ditions” program can be purchased individually as PDF eBooks or as hardcover reprint (“print-on-demand”) editions via the “Available from De Gruyter” link above. They are also available to institutions in ten separate subject-area packages that reflect the entire spectrum of the Press’s catalog. More about the E-ditions Program »

The design for the open-air churches of sixteenth-century Mexico is one of the most original and unorthodox conceptions of church architecture ever accepted for widespread use. The unusual social, economic, and physical problems faced by a few hundred friars in their ministry to millions of Indians, led to strikingly unconventional solutions. The author explains the peculiar functions of these open-air churches and shows the influences in architectural design of Spanish renaissance, gothic, and Moorish, and of Aztec artistic traditions. All the monuments are considered and special sections are devoted to each of the most notable buildings. There are a large number of excellent illustrations.