Church of Nuestra Señora de Valvanera, Mexico City on:
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The Cathedral of Our Lady of Valvanera (also Maronite Cathedral of Our Lady of Valvanera sometimes spelled Balvanera, es, Catedral Maronita de Nuestra Señora de Valvanera) is located southeast of the main plaza, or Zocalo, of
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Valvanera (also Maronite Cathedral of Our Lady of Valvanera sometimes spelled Balvanera, es, Catedral Maronita de Nuestra Señora de Valvanera) is located southeast of the main plaza, or Zocalo, of Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on the corner of Correo Mayor and República de Uruguay in the historic center. The church originally belonged to the Convent of Santo Niño Perdido which was founded in 1573. This would then become a Conceptionist convent in the 17th century, when the church and convent were rebuilt in 1667. It also gained its current name at that time.
Due to the Reform Laws in 1861, the nuns were required to vacate the convent portion and the cloister and other buildings associated with the church were demolished. Its main altar was nearly destroyed during the political struggles of the 19th century but the oil of the Black Virgin of Valvanera (or Balvanera) remains.
This church was declared a historic monument on August 30, 1932. atálogo nacional de monumentos históricos inmuebles Centro Histórico (Perímetro A) Tomo III, D.F. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. 1992. p. 1400./ref>
Nowadays this church is the cathedral of the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of the Martyrs of Lebanon in Mexico.
The church is of Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style with its main entrance at the side of the church, as was common with convents in Mexico. The bell tower is covered in tile from Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
. Only this church and the church of La Encarnación have Puebla tile on the bell towers. The church facade is of tezontle
Tezontle ( es, tezontle) is a porous, highly oxidized, volcanic rock used extensively in construction in Mexico. It is usually reddish in color due to iron oxide.
Tezontle is a well-cemented, agglomeritic and scoriaceous rock.
Uses Construction ...
divided by five buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es and topped by an entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
with a frieze with anagrams of the names of Jesus and Mary. Both portals have two levels of decoration on them. Inside, the main altar is Neoclassical and made of stone. The oil of Nuestra Señora de Balvanera is from the 17th century. It and the sculptures here were donated by a Maronite church. The sacristy has paintings by Carlos Clemente Lopez that date from 1750.
See also
*List of colonial churches in Mexico City
This is a list of the preserved Colonial churches in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico.
Aside from being a notable city in colonial times, the city grew in the 20th century enormously in terms of population, adhering to over a hundred of subur ...
References
External links
* http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/northamerica/4852.htm Arab Mexican Churches in Mexico City Eastern Catholic cathedrals in Mexico Historic center of Mexico City Maronite cathedrals Lebanese Mexican 1573 establishments in New Spain Roman Catholic churches completed in 1667 Spanish Colonial architecture in Mexico Baroque church buildings in Mexico 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Mexico {{EasternCatholic-church-stub