Valladolid Adventures Part 21 of 22: The historic churches of Santa Lucia, Santa Ana, and La Calendaria

 

Iglesia de Santa Lucia is one of Valladolid's oldest churches. It was built with limestone, the same material that had been used by the Maya to construct pyramids and temples in the pre-hispanic city of Zaci. The Spanish conquered Zaci in 1545 and built Valladolid on its ruins. The choir window on the facade above the door contains a stained-glass image of Santa Lucia, a young woman who was martyred during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. 

At the top of the facade is a campanario (belfry) containing three bells. These are still rung the old-fashioned way, with ropes. The church was built in 1565, only a couple of decades after the conquistador Francisco Montejo el Mozo conquered Zaci. Many of Valladolid's buildings were constructed using materials looted from Zaci's pyramids and temples. The Santa Lucia church is located on the corner of Calle 42 and Calle 47. Parque Santa Lucia is located across the street from the church. This is the first of three colonial-era churches I will show in this posting. The other two are Santa Ana and La Candelaria.  

Stucco flowers decorate the arch over the right-side entrance of the church. A matching doorway can be seen across the nave. The two side-entrances are about 2/3 of the way along the walls from the front of the church. There is a single, barrel-vaulted nave with an attached sacristy. Although I haven't determined exactly who built Santa Lucia, the style is very similar to that used by the Franciscan Order during the 16th century. According to one source, the church was built for the use of slaves imported from Africa to work on the local haciendas. 

If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you may have noticed that I often highlight the churches in colonial cities that we visit. As a photographer, their architecture always attracts me, but it is more than that. What really fascinates me are the cultural, political, economic, and even military roles that these religious structures played in Mexico's history, from colonial times through the early 20th century. They are nearly always central to the story of any particular locality. The churches of Santa Lucia, Santa Ana, and Candelaria are good examples of this.

View of the nave toward the main altar. Although all three churches are still used for regular services, Iglesia Santa Lucia is the only one where the nave was accessible when we visited. The simple, sparsely-decorated interior is a feature typical of Franciscan churches. The two side entrances can be seen on either side of the nave. At the far end is the apse, containing the main altar and a wooden retablo on its back wall. The earliest sources of information about the martyrdom of Santa Lucia date back to the 4th century AD. The story of her life has been much embellished over the following centuries.

Santa Lucia (283-304 AD) was born in Syracuse, Sicily. Her wealthy Roman father died early in her life. Her mother's name, Eutychia, suggests that she was ethnically Greek. Lucia became a Christian at an early age and persuaded her mother to give away a large part of the family fortune to the poor. This angered the man to whom Lucia had become betrothed and he denounced her as a Christian to the authorities. The Emperor Diocletian's persecutions  were at their height at the time and Lucia was arrested. She miraculously survived the first few attempts to execute her, but finally died when a sword was thrust into her neck.

A small but lovely retablo covers the back wall of the apse. This wooden altarpiece has three niches. In the center, Jesus hangs from the cross. The left niche contains a female figure that may be Santa Lucia. In the right niche is a statue that appears to be Jesus. Two more saints stand on either side of the retablo. On the far left is San Isidro Labrador, the patron of farm workers. The identity of the saint on the far right is unclear. Standing in front of the retablo on the right is a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron of Mexico and its poor and indigenous people.

The neighborhood around the church is called Barrio Santa Lucia. This was where the leaders of the "First Spark of the Revolution" gathered here to plan their revolt (see Part 20). It was launched on June 4, 1910, but was crushed by troops sent by the dictator Porfirio Diaz. There were four days of fierce fighting that filled the streets with bodies. The rebel leaders who survived were captured and summarily executed. The First Spark pre-dated the main November 20 revolt by several months. Valladolid's residents are proud of their claim that the Mexican Revolution actually started in their city.

Statue of the Virgin Mary wearing a golden crown and holding the Baby Jesus. There are many versions of Mary. Some of these involve a miraculous apparition, often many centuries after her death. This statue shows her as the Madonna of the Golden Crown. She was first portrayed this way in an early 1500s painting. 

The crown symbolizes her role as Queen of Heaven and the child represents her as the Mother of God (Jesus). The crown further suggests a connection to the royal House of David, founded by the first King of Israel. This seems pretty far afield from her actual New Testament description as the wife of a simple carpenter from the small Palestinian town of Nazareth.

Iglesia de Santa Ana

Three arched gates form the entrance to Santa Ana's atrium. This church was built in the last half the 16th century and was intended solely for the use of the Maya. Along with the imported African slaves, the Maya were forbidden access to the Spanish churches built for the conquistadors and settlers. However, in order to maintain their dominant position the Spanish needed to indoctrinate the native and slave populations into a belief system under which they would accept subordination. Military conquest could be accomplished by force, but a stable society needed willing, or at least docile, subjects.

The process of indoctrination was called the "Spiritual Conquest". Central to it was the conversion of the subordinate populations to Catholicism. This was coupled with the suppression of their native religious practices (i.e. stopping "devil worship"). Consequently, Iglesia de Santa Ana was built for the Maya and Santa Lucia for the African slaves. At Santa Ana, almost all services were conducted in the Yucatecan Maya language. However, mass was delivered in Latin, as it was in all Catholic churches. Santa Lucia's services (except for the Latin mass) were probably in Spanish, given the variety of African languages. 

The arches are attached to the low wall surrounding the atrium. Atriums were often part of early colonial churches. Their purpose was to provide an enclosed exterior space for religious processions and activities. The number of participants in these rituals would often have been too large to fit inside the nave of the church. The trees on the upper left are part of Parque de Santa Ana, a space with some important history of its own. You can read more about the Parque below. 

The facade of Iglesia de Santa Ana. Like Santa Lucia, this church displays a simplicity that suggests a Franciscan origin. The decoration includes only the relief carvings around the entrances, the choir window image of Santa Ana, and the four-bell campanario. There are finials on the corners of the structure's roof and on the campanario, but these have a very plain design. There are two side entrances, as well as the one on the front, all with thick wooden doors. The very limited access, the single high window, and the thick, high walls all suggest a fortress, which could well have been one of the structure's intended purposes.

Spanish colonial churches were often used as places of refuge during violent conflicts. Sometimes, they even became strong points during sieges. Valladolid's Templo San Servacio and Convento San Bernardino de Siena both served this purpose. Many people in the U.S. will recall that the famous 19th century Siege of the Alamo in Texas occurred at a Franciscan mission. Yucatan was plagued with wars, revolts, and uprisings from the beginning of the Conquest in 1527 to the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution in the 1930s. It is not clear whether Iglesia Santa Ana ever served as a fortress, but it certainly could have.

An arched gate frames the right-side entrance to the nave. There is a similar gate and entrance on the opposite side of the church. Although we were unable to gain access to the nave, a sign outside provided information. The masonry church has a barrel vault nave with a sacristy. In the apse at the end of the nave is a 17th century baroque-style retablo, containing several statues in niches. Among these are Santa Lucia, San José, and San Pedro. On each side of the altar are statues of San Dimas and San Judas Tadeo. An antique chest serves as the reliquary (container for sacred relics).  

Santa Ana was the mother of the Virgin Mary. Neither Mary's mother nor her father, San Joaquin, are mentioned in the Bible's New Testament, but are simply part of Church traditions. According to the Protoevangelium of James, written in 150 AD, Santa Ana and San Joaquin were a wealthy couple unable to have a child. Joaquin prayed for help and Ana was then visited by an angel who told her  that she would have a child. James wrote his account more than a century after Jesus' crucifixion. Apparently, it was felt necessary to have a story to answer questions about Mary's origin.

A monument to the Niños Heroes stands in Parque de Santa Ana. The Niños Heroes (Boy Heros) were cadets at Mexico City's Chapultepec Military Academy. During the Mexican-American War (1846-48), the American army attacked the 200-foot bluff where the Academy was located. Only a fraction of the forces needed for its defense were available. Among these were the cadets, some as young as 10 years old. When a retreat was ordered, six of the cadets refused and fought to the death. Juan Escutla was the last one alive when he wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and plunged off the cliff to his death.

Parque de Santa Ana is also notable as the site of the incident that ignited the 68-year-long Caste War. Tensions in Yucatan were running high in 1847, particularly in the area around Valladolid. Oppressed for centuries by the Spanish and their Ladino (non-Maya Mexican) successors, the Maya were in a mood to strike back. The Ladino leaders were aware of the danger and decided to act preemptively. They arrested Don Manuel Antonio Ay, a local Maya leader, and accused him of sedition. He was executed at Parque Santa Ana on July 26, 1847. This completely backfired because it triggered a massive revolt that lasted for decades.

Iglesia de la Candelaria

Igelesia de la Candelaria. The 18th century church occupies the corner of Calle 44 and Calle 35. It was built on the site of an hermitage, which was a religious site intended primarily for seclusion. The Candelaria church is named after Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of the Candlemass). She is venerated in Valladolid and is the patron of the city's annual festival, held on February 2. 

La Candelaria church is notable for its Moorish features. The Moors invaded Spain from North Africa in 711 AD. At one point, they controlled nearly all of the Iberian peninsula. The last of them were not expelled from Spain until 1492. During their nearly 800 year presence, the Moors created some of world's most beautiful buildings. The Moorish architectural style was brought from Spain to the New World and can be seen in churches and other colonial-era structures throughout Mexico.

The campanario on top of the facade has spaces for three bells.  The masonry church has a single vaulted nave, a sacristy, and a large courtyard. Attached to the front of the facade is a portico with three Moorish arches facing the street and one on each end. We were unable to access the nave, but one source says that the apse contains a Mexican Baroque retablo on the wall behind the altar. 

A Spaniard named Alonso de Espinosa produced the first written account of the legend of the Virgen de la Candelaria in 1594. However, the story he told dates back to 1392 in the Canary Islands. According to native oral traditions, two indigenous islanders found a statue washed up on a beach about a century before the Spanish arrived. It was a medieval gothic sculpture of a woman holding a child in one hand and a candle in the other. The dark figure wore clothing similar to that of the Virgen de Lluch (patron of Mallorca). The statue may have been lost overboard from a medieval European ship and washed ashore.

The native people believed the statue represented their earth goddess, Chaxiraxi, and  worshiped it over the next century. When the Spanish arrived in 1496. they declared that the statue represented the Virgin Mary taking Jesus to the Jerusalem Temple for his first visit. This was an event called Candelaria that Catholics celebrated each February 2. In 1526, the Spanish decided to house the statue in a hermitage. However, in1826, it was lost in a tsunami. Canary Islanders carried the story of the Virgen de la Candelaria with them when they migrated to other parts of the Spanish Empire, including Nueva España (Mexico).

The floor of the Moorish portico is covered by what may be the original stonework. Although the Muslim Moors were hated for their 800-year domination of Spain, the Spanish Christians admired their culture and architectural styles. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 

A sign near the church provides a local legend about the Virgen de Candelaria. In the 18th century, a Maya hacienda worker led a caravan of burros loaded with palm fronds into Valladolid. When he entered the city, he encountered a beautiful woman carrying a child with one hand and a lit candle in the other. She asked the worker to build a shelter for her and her baby, using the palms he was transporting. He agreed, but needed wood to complete the shelter. When he went into the mountains the next morning to look for wood, he met a co-worker from the same hacienda and asked for help in building the shelter.  

Interior courtyard of the Santa Ana church. Notice the rough wooden varas (rafters) on the ceiling in the upper right. They appear to be original parts of the arcade that surrounds the courtyard. 

After finishing the woman's shelter, the two men returned to the hacienda where they met the foreman. He was upset by their absence and didn't believe their explanation. So, the workers took him to meet the woman and see the shelter. The foreman was so impressed by the woman's beauty that he reported the incident to the hacendados (owners). Because of the child and the candle, the hacendados believed her to be an apparition of the Virgen de la Candelaria and they ordered a chapel to be built in her honor. Today, she is celebrated as the patron of Valladolid's festival of the Virgen de la Candelaria.

View of Parque de la Candelaria from the Moorish portico. Like the other churches in this posting, Iglesia de la Candelaria has a park across the street. When the festival of Candelaria is held on February 2, the park will be lined with stalls, many of them selling various kinds of food. The most popular of these are Yucatecan-style tamales, filled with turkey, chicken, pork, or corn kernels. 

There is a Mexican tradition connecting Candelaria with the January 6 Dia de los Tres Reyes (Three Kings Day). On that day a special cake is served, called rosca de reyes. Baked into the cake is a small figurine. Whoever finds the figurine in their slice of cake must supply the tamales for the next Candelaria fiesta.

This completes Part 21 of my Valladolid Adventures series. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below. If you leave a question, please remember to include your email address so that I can respond in a timely fashion.

Hasta luego, Jim

Valladolid Adventures Part 16 of 22: A day-trip to Yucatan's north coast

Homenaje al Pescador ("Homage to the Fisherman"). This statue on the malecón celebrates San Felipe's long history as a fishing port on Yucatan's north coast. The blowing palms show the strong, chilly wind off the ocean that was blowing. During the winter months, when we visited, Yucatan's coastal areas can be surprisingly cool and breezy. San Felipe's population is 1,838, but the town looked bigger when we drove into it. It sits at the mouth of an estuary that is part of the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, which has concentrations of pink flamingos similar to those at Celestún, on Yucatan's west coast.

We went on this adventure to see what  the area to the north of Valladolid had to offer. In this posting, I'll show a bit of San Felipe and its malecón (waterfront) lined with fishing boats. During our drive back to Valladolid, we briefly visited the small city of Timizin, with its historic Parroquia de los Tres Reyes (Church of the Three Kings). Near Tizimin, we also discovered and explored the ruins of the Franciscan Ex-Convento de Kikil.  However, that will be covered in the following two postings.

Overview

Google satellite map of northern Yucatan showing our route. We took Highway 295, a libre (free) road that proceeds due north from Valladolid. At Kikil, a short distance north of Timizin, the road splits, with the right fork going to Rio Lagartos and the left going to San Felipe. The two pueblos are about 11km (6.8mi) apart along the north coast. When you reach San Felipe, stay on the same road all the way to the malecón. The length of the trip (one way) is 107km (66.5mi) and it takes a little less than two hours. The country you pass through is flat and covered with farmland and forests. Traffic was light during our drive. 

The fishing port of San Felipe

The pier near the statue has a palm-frond palapa at its end. I was impressed by the town's general sense of prosperity. All of the boats I saw looked in good condition, with large, powerful motors mounted on their sterns. Everything, including the boats and the town itself, seemed clean and well-kept. Notice the land that lines the horizon in the background. This is part of a long, narrow east-to-west spit of land that forms the northern part of the bay and protects both San Felipe and Rio Lagartos from the open ocean beyond. The land spit is part of the Biosphere Reserve. 

View from the pier's palapa back toward the malecón. The palm fronds show the powerful winds that buffeted us. Restaurants, stores, and hotels line the shore along the malecón. Many of San Felipe's homes and other structures were originally built with varnished cedar which could resist the moist salt air. However, they couldn't withstand the force of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which destroyed a lot of them. It was apparently so powerful that even the protection of the land spit didn't save them.

Looking west along the palm-lined malecón. Each of these boats has its own name. The one in the foreground is called "Aremy K". Notice the horizon in the upper right. That is the mouth of the bay and beyond is the Gulf of Mexico (NOT "America"). The shore of what is now San Felipe was first visited 200 years ago by Maya fishermen from Santa Clara or Dzilam Bravo. According to legend, they sought shelter during bad weather. Looking for fresh water, they followed the sound of the native Chuleb birds and found a spring which they called Akta Chuleb ("Ahead of Chuleb").

The view toward the east shows more boats and piers. Although the wind was chilly, the day was sparkling clear, and sunny. Above-ground water is scarce in Yucatan, but with the discovery of the Akta Chuleb spring, it became possible to establish a temporary fishing camp. As more and more Maya visited, they discovered good land for farming and hunting. Some brought their families and settled permanently. At an unknown time, Akta Chuleb was given the new name of San Felipe, to honor the Franciscan martyr San Felipe de Jesus. My bet is that it happened when the the first friars arrived, because that was their usual practice. 

Restaurant El Popular Vaselina is located where the pier meets the malecón. The restaurant is covered by a thatched palapa and its sign has lobsters on either end dressed as waiters. Not surprisingly, its specialty is seafood.  San Felipe has many good restaurants and several inexpensive hotels along its waterfront. Although we didn't stay long, (Carole doesn't care for windy places) the town has plenty to do. In addition to strolling along the malecón waterfront, boats can be hired to fish or to visit the Biosphere Reserve and an archeological site. San Felipe has a very laid-back atmosphere. Hopefully, it is not yet overrun by tourists.

Tizamin de los Reyes

A statue commemorating motherhood shows seated woman nursing her baby. The subject of motherhood is popular in Mexiccan art. I have seen other statues glorifying it in places like Mérida, Yucatan's capital. The statue stands on the perimieter of Parque Principal Francisco Cantón, the main plaza of the city of Tizimin. In the local Maya dialect, the name of the city means "Place of the Tapir". It is located 52km (32mi) north of Valladolid on Highway 295, about half-way between that city and the north coast. With a population of 47,000, Tizimin is the second largest city in eastern Yucatan, after Valladolid. 

Parque Principal Francisco Cantón and its central kiosco. It is a very neat and well-kept plaza with many benches for those wishing to while away a sunny afternoon. All the buildings around the plaza are freshly painted in a variety of pastels. Francisco Cantón (1833-1917) joined the military at age 16 to fight the Maya during the Caste War (1848-1915). He later supported the rule of the French-imposed Emperior Maximillian (1862-1867). However, after the war, he reconciled with the Liberal Party under Porfirio Diaz and served as Governor of Yucatan from 1898 to 1902. 

Parroquia de los Tres Reyes stands across from the plaza's east side. The Church of the Three Kings is named after the three magi who, according to the New Testament, were guided by a star to visit Bethlehem and bring gifts to the Baby Jesus. The church was built in the 17th century, but the Franciscans had been evangelizing in the area since the middle of the 16th. In fact, Valladolid was originally founded in 1543 in the Tizimin municipality (equivalent to a US county). The new city was moved to its present location two years later because the first site was too swampy and unhealthy.

Melchior, one of the Three Kings, standing in a glass case in the church. The other two, Gaspar and Balthazar, stand nearby. A 16th century Franciscan friar named Andrés de Avendaño was inspired to use the Three Kings as an evangelizing tool at Tizimin. The three most important local gods were Yum Chac (Lord of the Rain), Yum Kaax (Lord of the Field), and Yum Ik (Lord of the Air). The Franciscan friar simply worked to substitute the Three Kings for the trio of Maya gods. This was similar to the tactic used by missionaries who created the Christmas tree to capitalize on the pagan German worship of the fir tree. 

This magnificent retablo stands in the apse at the end of the nave. The carved wood structure has thirteen niches for statues and paintings of various saints and sacred scenes. The retablo is in the Mexican Baroque style and includes sixteen spiraling Solomonic columns. Tizimin's Parroquia de los Tres Reyes is the second most important shrine to the Three Kings in the world, after the one in Cologne, Germany. The annual fiesta on January 6 draws thousands of participants. It includes a parade in which the Three Kings are paraded through the town. A similar fiesta is held the same day in a pueblo near Ajijic, where I live.

A sliver reliquary is bracketed by 12 silver candlesticks. Reliquaries are used to contain sacred relics. The number of candlesticks suggests that they represent the Twelve Apostles. Usually, reliquaries are in the shape of a box with a door in the front. This exquisitely decorated version is shaped like a coffee can, with a dome on top. Often, reliquaries are guarded by a brace of angel statues, but there were none in evidence here. There was also no indication of the nature of the relics contained in this reliquary.

A hexagonal pulpit is mounted on a side wall of the nave. I was impressed by the beautifully painted relief carvings of sacred figures on each of its six sides. The term pulpit comes from the Latin "pulpitum". The use of raised platforms dates back to ancient Israelite worship and Greek and Roman speaking traditions. They were first mentioned in regard to Christian practices by Cyprian of Carthage in the 3rd century AD. By the Middle Ages, they had become prominent features in churches. While pulpits in Catholic churches are often found on a side wall, in Protestant churches they are usually in the front.

A niche along the nave's wall contains a statue of the Virgen de Guadalupe. I immediately thought of her when I saw this statue. However, upon closer inspection, I had doubts. Many of the attributes of the Virgen de Guadalupe are present, including the sunburst halo that surrounds her and the type of clothing she wears. However, although I have taken hundreds of photos of her images all over Mexico, until Tizimin I had never encountered one in which she holds a child. After I Googled up numerous images of her holding the Baby Jesus, I was able to confirm my original opinion. Live and learn!

This completes Part 16 of my Valladolid Adventures series. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please include your email address so that I can respond in a timely fashion.

Hasta luego, Jim

 

Guanajato Revisited Part 5 of 17: Ex-Hacienda del Cochero's peaceful garden conceals a torture center

Carole stands at the entrance of the Museo Ex-Hacienda del Cochero. In my last posting, we looked at the Templo Belén, the last remains of a convento run by a Catholic religious Order known as the Brothers of Our Lady of Bethlehem or the Betlemites. They were responsible for building and running hospitals for the poor in Guanajuato and elsewhere in Mexico and Latin America. These efforts provided great benefits to the communities in which the Betlemites worked.

In this posting we will take a look at the dark side of Catholicism in Spain and Spanish colonial Mexico. In 1954, Manuel Valenzuela found implements of torture and human remains hidden in tunnels under Ex-Hacienda del Cochero (Hacienda of the Coachman). These were the remains of a secret torture center linked to the Spanish Inquisition. For a Google map showing the location of Museo Ex-Hacienda del Cochero, click here.

The Ex-Hacienda's peaceful garden

Statue of San Francisco de Assisi. San Francisco was a peaceful, acetic man who established a religious Order devoted to charity, benevolence, and selflessness. He is reputed to have loved animals and is usually shown accompanied by birds or small mammals, like the squirrel at his feet. The statue is within the lush garden just inside the entrance of the 17th century hacienda. 

The museum has a fee of $45 pesos/person ($2.47 USD) and is open from 10 AM to 7 PM, Monday to Sunday. There are guides dressed as monks who will conduct you on a short tour, but we decided to just wander through on our own.

A font for holy water hangs on the wall near the entrance. These containers are also called stoups. It appears to be of the 17th century Baroque style, although it is not clear that this was its original location. I was intrigued by the small, winged creature crouched in the conch shell above the bowl. What it represents and why it is in a holy water font is a mystery to me.

A possible sundial stands in the middle of the garden. I wasn't sure what this was at first, but finally decided it must be an old sundial. The placement of sundials in hacienda gardens and courtyards was a common practice, both as a decoration and as a practical way to tell time on a sunny day.

Hacienda del Cochero was established in 1696 in the hills to the north of Guanajuato. The founder was José de Sardaneta Legaspi y Muños del Castillo. Like many Spaniards in the 17th century, he and his family and various relatives had emigrated to Nueva España (Mexico) to seek their fortunes in the mining business. In 1715, José's wife Rosa Maria gave birth to a son, Vicente Manuel de Sardaneta y Legaspi, under whom the family's fortunes skyrocketed.

Carts like this moved ore from deep in the mines to the surface. Hacienda del Cochero was the type of operation known as a hacienda de beneficio. These were operations which refined ore into ingots, in this case silver. Most of the ingots were sent by mule train to Mexico City and then on to Spain. About a third of it went to the Far East to purchase the luxury goods brought back on the Manila Galleons. The vast amounts of silver produced in Guanajuato and other mining centers transformed Spain into a superpower. 

The Spanish Crown directly benefited both from a percentage of each ingot produced and from monopoly control over mercury, which was vital to the refinement process. Thus, success in the mining business not only made a man rich but won him great favor with Spanish kings. José's son Vicente was one of these and in 1774 he was elevated by King Carlos III to the position of 1st Marqués de San Juan de Raya. A marqués is the second highest rank of nobility, just below duke. 

A small cemetery occupies one corner of the garden. It isn't clear who is buried here, but the graveyard is described as "particular", which may indicate that these are family graves. A close examination of this gravestone reveals only three undamaged and intelligible words of Spanish: Fallecio...(Died...) and Recuerdo de... (Memory of...). The stone is decorated with an angel clutching a child to its breast and two shells with small, writhing snakes nearby.

In addition to owning mines and haciendas de beneficio, Vicente possessed agricultural and livestock haciendas which he used to provide supplies to his mining operations. To protect and enhance all this, he held various powerful positions within Guanajuato's government between 1743-87. These included city council member, ordinary mayor, and attorney general. In fact, his father and uncles had occupied similar positions, as did his sons after him, all as part of the Sardaneta family business. 

 

A pretty girl and her best friend, the mummy. This was the first sign of the bizarre world we were about to enter. This photo hung on the wall near the entry to the dungeon below the garden. A caption below the photo identified the live girl as Magdalena Moreno and the photo as taken in the Tricolor studio. The mummy's identity was not given. Given the live girl's clothing, the shot was probably taken in the mid-20th century. Apparently photos like this were popular at that time.

Vicente was also connected to the Church in important ways. His brother Joaquin was a Jesuit priest and Vicente himself held the position of mayor of the Holy Brotherhood during various periods between 1755 and 1770. He soon became a friend of Fernando de Miera, Inquisitor of the Holy Office. Blasphemers, heretics, witches, and anyone suspected of opposing Catholicism were brought before the Holy Office Tribunal for trial. In those days, such trials were preceded by torture.

Descent into a nightmare

Armor, weapons, and torture tools were set into a wall niche. We left the garden above and proceeded down a winding stone stairway. Part way down we encountered this display. A  steel breastplate decorated with a coat-of-arms and two fleur-de-lys occupies the center space. It is surrounded by a manacle dangling from a chain, a candelabra (symbolizing the Church?), a flintlock pistol, and a hand bellows used to make torture instruments red-hot.

The Inquisitor Fernando de Miera needed someplace quiet, secret, and just outside the city for convenience. Somewhere that the screams of his victims would not unduly disturb the citizenry. His friendship with Vicente Sardaneta led to the offer of the cellar under Hacienda del Cochero. It would be the perfect site for eliciting the confessions that nearly always followed de Miera's interrogation style.

At the bottom of the stairs, we encountered this cell. In it, a figure dressed in a rough robe hunches over a table lit with a single lamp. The figure's outstretched right hand shows that it is a skeleton. While various human remains were found when the cellar was excavated in 1954, few of the remains displayed today are real. However, the torture tools are original and almost certainly were used to their full potential. In the background is a brazier for heating the tools. 

One source claims the cellar was being used for torture as early as 1700. However, Vicente was born in 1715 and didn't become a friend of Fernando de Mieda until many years later, so that early date seems unlikely. Another source sets the date for the beginning of torture at 1764 and this seems to better fit the overall timescale. Apparently the site was used for these purposes for a relatively short period and this probably accounts for the fact that its secret was kept for 210 years. 

The Garrotte was used for both torture and execution. The man sitting on the chair has his hands bound behind a wooden post. He has been fitted with a collar of iron (or possibly leather) around his neck, called a garrotte. The collar is attached through the post to a lever behind it. As the lever is pulled back the collar tightens around the throat, slowly strangling the victim. Pressure can be applied or released at will by the torturer, thus prolonging the suffering or causing a quick death. 

The Inquisition was first implemented by Pope Lucius III in 1184 against the Cathars, a non-Catholic sect of Christians based in southern France. Its purpose was to enforce adherence to Catholicism and the Church found this method so useful in exerting its power that the practice lasted until 1834. In Spain, the Inquisition was first used in 1480, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella forced the Jews to convert to Catholicism or be deported. Those who back-slid faced the Inquisitors.

A metal pot hangs over a table waiting for the next victim. The pot may have been filled with hot liquids or glowing coals meant to be spread over a naked, strapped-down body. Two more implements of torture are shown against the wall in back. The chair on the left appears to be another version of a garrotte, while the device on the right is one of the infamous "racks" often referred to in medieval torture literature.

Fernando de Aragon and Isabela de Castille had married in 1469. A decade later, they linked their kingdoms and unified Spain for the first time in 700 years. Under their leadership, the Reconquista (Re-conquest) finally captured Moorish Granada in 1492. Isabella was a religious fanatic and used the Inquisition to persecute not only Jews but the remaining Moors. Shortly after Granada, the royal pair agreed to finance a speculative voyage by an obscure Italian named Christopher Columbus. 

The Rack was a device used to pull people apart at their joints. The body is stretched along the rack, with manacles on its wrists and ankles. These are, in turn, connected to chains at the top and bottom of the rack. The top chains extend to a winch. When wound, the winch pulls the arms and legs in opposite directions and the body is ultimately disarticulated at every joint. If done gradually, the agonizing effect was considered a good way to get the Inquisitor's questions answered.

Members of the Dominican Order arrived in Nueva España in 1525, and were viewed at the time as both intellectuals and agents of the Inquisition. However, the colony's first Bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, was a Franciscan and it was he who initiated the first prosecution under the Inquisition in 1536. It was not against a Spanish heretic, but an indigenous shaman named Ocelote ("ocelot"). He had continued to practice his traditional beliefs, but these were viewed by the Spanish as devil worship.

A Head Crusher could also result in a slow and agonizing death. The head crusher used a metal cap that was fitted over the top of the victim's skull, with a strap under the chin. A winch was turned from above, gradually forcing the cap down and crushing the skull, teeth, mandible and facial bones. Bored torturers would sometimes amuse themselves by tapping on the metal cap with a hammer.

During the early years of colonization, mass evangelization was far more prevalent than the use of the inquisition method. However, both were aimed at ensuring the success of the "Spiritual Conquest", which provided the ideological underpinning of the military conquest. Fundamentally, both had the same aim: enforcing Spanish civil and religious power. As time went on, native resistance to the new religion lessened and the authorities turned their attention back to heretics.  

The Breaking Wheel was widely used for centuries. The first reported use of the Breaking Wheel was in the 6th century and its last victim was in 1841. The victim would be strapped to a large wheel, sometimes taken from a wagon. As the wheel was turned, he would be savagely beaten with clubs on the arms and legs until all were thoroughly broken. While this ultimately caused death, the process was very slow and sometimes the person survived for 3 or 4 days before expiring.

The context of the Spanish Inquisition is important. Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation in 1517, only two years before Cortéz invaded the Aztec Empire. The rise of Protestantism led to the Catholic Counter-Reformation of 1545. Torture and executions for adhering to the wrong side were widespread on both sides during the following two centuries. The 17th century Spaniards were recognized at the time as particularly avid and creative in these practices.

A skeleton of a prisoner was left chained to the wall in this cell. Probably this represents someone who was tortured until he confessed, then sentenced to death by the Holy Tribunal, and finally left to die in his cell. A modern person might ask, how could human beings do these things to one another? Were people so different several hundred years ago? 

We have only to remember the 21st century torture centers run by the C.I.A. to understand that ordinary people will commit the most heinous acts against helpless victims when they perceive they are doing it under "proper authority". In fact, the C.I.A. used similar, and sometimes identical, torture methods as the Spanish Inquisitors. These included waterboarding, stress positions, and savage beatings. The only difference was that the C.I.A usually didn't kill their victims. 

The guillotine above was meant for execution, not torture. The hole in the block was for the victim's neck. The top half of the block would be raised so that the head of the reclining person could fit through. The top was then dropped down to pin the person in place. The angled blade was pulled to the top of the slide and, at a signal, was dropped. The heavy blade neatly sliced the neck and dropped the head into a basket between the legs of the device. 

The guillotine had been invented as a more humane method of execution than the Breaking Wheel, which it replaced. The new device did bring almost instant death, but it also enabled many rapid executions in a row, such as occurred during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. The revolutionaries viewed the guillotine favorably, not because of its "humanity" but because it eliminated social distinctions in how people were executed. King or peasant, your head ended up in the same basket.

The mummy in the coffin may be part of the original remains. It appears to be a real mummy, but there was no sign indicating whether this is true. If it is real, it is also not clear whether the mummy was part of the human remains found when the cellar was excavated in the 1950s.

So, was Vicente Manuel de Sardaneta y Legaspi, 1st Marqués de San Juan de Raya, directly involved in the torture activities conducted in the cellar of his hacienda? Certainly, he would have known about it. However it is most likely that he was an occasional spectator rather than a hands-on participant. Any questioning of the victims would have been conducted by the Inquisitor, Fernando de Miera. The pain of the victims would have been inflicted by specialists.

We finally exited the dark cellar into the sunlit cobblestone street. After walking through all those horrific exhibits, I wondered at the advertisements for this museum that encouraged families to visit. I can hardly imagine how parents might explain to their small, bug-eyed children exactly what was going on in those cells.

This completes Part 5 of my Guanajuato Revisited series. If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave them in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments, please remember to leave your email address so that I can respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim