Mexico: Queretaro - 04

Now a museum
(See links below)

The basic construction took until 1736, but the decorative Baroque art work and altars were not finished until 1745, fourteen years after construction began.

The porch of the church has wonderful sculptures of Christ and of Augustinian saints such as Augustine, Monica and Rita.

The main altar and the side altars in the church were magnificent works of art.

Unfortunately, like many altars in Mexico, they were destroyed in the nineteenth century.

But why build such a large monastery? The Province of Michoacán of the Order of Saint Augustine constructed such a large monastery in Querétaro for the purpose of using it as a house of study for candidates to the Order.

The resulting building then served that purpose for about one hundred years, from 1750 to 1850.

Soon afterwards, there was a great political change that brought about the Mexican Constitution of 1857, a bloody civil war and the confiscation of much property that belonged to the church and to the religious orders.

After this, the monastery then stood unused for a number of years. The government then moved in its officers in May 1889.

The building became known as the Federal Palace.

Still with its former glory
(See text below)

For the next hundred years, departments of the government that dealt with property and commerce operated there.

Another section of the building became the general post office for the city.

On 22nd September 1988 about 3,000 square metres of the building became the Museum of Art of Querétaro.

One advantage of this step was that this extensive area of the building was restored.

Practical additions and changes made to the building by departments of the government during the past century were removed.

Distributed through eighteen rooms, the museum has a permanent collection of art, which now numbers over 360 pieces.

It houses a colection of paintings from New Spain with works by Baltasar Echave and Francisco Antonio Vallejo, with a hall devoted to the famous painter Cristóbal de Villalpando.

Since 1988 it has also conducted 175 temporary exhibitions. In its first ten years, the museum attracted over one million visitors.

Although the Order of Saint Augustine no longer possesses this famous monastery that it built, three of its members live nearby and conduct the church (see photo of Querétaro on the first page about it in Augnet) that still operates.

Photo (above):

Upper level of former Augustinian convento, Cuitzeo, Michoacan Province, Mexico.

For the pages of Augnet about the history of the two Augustinians provinces in Mexico, click here.

ID2693

<< Previous Next >>

Mexico: Queretaro - 04