PROCEEDINGS | Scientific Symposium
According to data from the UNESCO, the monasteries are legally protected by the Mexican government
in three levels: federal, state and local law. These protection legal instruments are contained at the Political
Constitution of the United Mexican States; which regulates the Mexican authorities and civil associations
to ensure the stability of the monasteries and their assets with the implementation of conservation,
maintenance and awareness raising projects.
As a result of the earthquake befall on September 19, 2017, the Mexican government decided one of
the priorities was the protection and restoration of the monasteries on the slopes of Popocatepetl which
belong to the World Heritage List
History and Relevance of the “Route of Monasteries”
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish monarchy entrusted the missionaries to
evangelized and teach the European way of living to the defeated race. These missionaries belonged to
the mendicant orders: Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians. The necessity of the orders to have a
place for worship and teaching; led to the construction of the New Spanish monasteries and churches.
The earliest 16th century monastic architectural legacy had help us to have a better understanding of the
evolution of religious ideologies in the territory currently known as Mexico.
The three Catholic orders entrusted for evangelization
Hernán Cortés arrived at the New Spain with the first mendicants in 1523, they were consigned by the
Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. These mendicants
were Franciscans, they were sent for their reputation of being “men of good manners, honest and
fearful of God, enlighten, wise and educated to indoctrinate the Catholic faith to the natives” (Duverger,
1993). Dominican monks arrived subsequently, in 1526 and later on, the Augustinians in 1572. After their
establishment in the area currently known as Mexico City and other regions at the Valley of Mexico; they
initiated to evangelize the territory at the south-east of the Popocatepetl volcano. ( see Fig 1)
Fig.1 - Map of the 14 monasteries on The Slopes of the Popocatepetl volcano
The Mexican colonial art history researcher Constantino Reyes Valerio affirms that the labor made
by the mendicant monks could be summarized with three fundamental points: Christianization, education
and civilizing Indians 1 .
1
The word indian (spanish indios) is used as a synonym for indigenous people. The concept originates when Christopher Columbus
used this word to address the natives of the New Word, he thought that he had arrived to India.
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