Chiapas Part 7: Na Bolom and San Cristóbal's own "Indiana Jones"

Frans Blom, a real-life "Indiana Jones," shown as a young man. The original photograph is dated 1922 and is located in the museum at Na Bolom (House of the Jaguar), his former home and expedition headquarters. Na Bolom is one of the must-see locations in San Cristóbal de las Casas. My Danish friend Erik had previously urged me to visit the museum and to feature Blom and his wife Trudi in one of my postings. Carole and I took his advice and stopped by Na Bolom while exploring the area northeast of San Cristóbal's Zócalo (main plaza). To locate Na Bolom on a Google map, click here.


Frans and Trudi Blom's amazing story

In 1924, while still a very young man, Blom was inducted into the famous Explorer's Club. The late 19th and early 20th Centuries were an Age of Exploration. Intrepid men launched expeditions into the snowy wastes of the Arctic and Antarctic, the deserts of Mongolia and southern Libya, and into the jungles of the Congo and the trackless forests of the Maya heartland. This was the era portrayed in the popular "Indiana Jones" film series, and the much earlier movie "King Kong". Frans Blom's work in the jungles of Yucatan, Chiapas, and northern Guatemala gained him international recognition and membership in the Explorers Club, an illustrious society founded in 1904. Its early members included Roald Amundsen (first to the South Pole), Robert Peary (first to the North Pole), and Roy Chapman Andrews (Gobi Desert explorer). Later members have included Edmund Hillary (conqueror of Mt. Everest), and Neil Armstrong (first man to step on the Moon). The Explorers Club is not just a back-slapping group of adventurers, however. It supports the scientific and educational aspects of exploration, and Frans Blom himself was an internationally recognized archaeologist and anthropologist as well as an explorer.

Blom, in middle age, leads his horse through Chiapas' Lacondon jungle. With his square jaw and piercing eyes, he looks every bit the intrepid explorer. I suspect he was trying for that effect in this photo. Frans Blom was born in 1893 into a family of middle-class antique merchants in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was a restless young man and traveled to Mexico in 1919 to work for the oil industry. During his work as a paymaster, he had occasion to visit many remote posts in the Yucatan and Chiapas. Becoming intrigued with the ancient Maya ruins he encountered, Blom made drawings of them and documented his findings. His work so impressed the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology that they financed further explorations, thus launching his career. Through this work, he met the famous archaeologist Sylvanus G. Morley who persuaded him to attend Harvard University. There, Blom achieved a Masters Degree in Archaeology, apparently his first formal education in the field. After accepting a job with Tulane University in New Orleans, he continued his expeditions into the Maya country all through the 1920s and into the '30s.

An exhibit of Frans Blom's personal effects includes his hat and saddles. Through the 1920s, Blom's career was meteoric. During his expedition to Palenque in 1923, he documented a number of features missed by previous archaeologists. Trekking into the vast and roadless Petén jungle of northern Guatemala in 1924, Blom performed the first detailed investigation and mapping of the ancient city of Uaxactun. The area where southern Yucatan and northern Guatemala meet is so trackless and wild that as late at 2013--almost 90 years after Blom's expedition--archaeologists have only just discovered Chactun, a large and previously unknown Maya city. But Frans Blom didn't confine his work to the Maya areas. He also explored the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where he uncovered various Olmec sites.  When Tulane University created a new Department of Middle American Research in 1926, Blom was appointed to head it. This was only seven years after first setting foot in Mexico as an oil industry employee.

A much older Frans Blom camps in the jungle with his wife Trudi Duby. Blom had an earlier marriage, from 1932 to 1938, to the American Mary Thomas. Their divorce may have been due, in part, to his developing problem with alcohol. Alcoholism eventually brought about Blom's retirement from Tulane University. However, he continued to work with the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology, which financed more expeditions into Southern Mexico. While on a trek to visit the ruins at Bonampak, he met Gertrude "Trudi" Duby. She was a Swiss-German photographer who was documenting the Lacandon Maya, a very isolated group who had never been conquered by the Spanish. Trudi Duby was an extraordinary character in her own right. As a young woman, she engaged in dangerous anti-Nazi work in Germany and Paris until she was deported by the Nazis in 1939. She joined the mass exodus of Europe's leftists, pacifists, labor leaders, and Jews to Mexico at the invitation of President Lázaro Cárdenas. Duby took a job with the government documenting the conditions of Mexico's indigenous people and joined several expeditions to research the Lacandon Maya. During the second of these trips, she met Blom and teamed up with him for several more expeditions. This cooperation resulted in the two-volume study called La Selva Lacandon (The Lacandon Forest). In 1951, they married and moved from Mexico City to San Cristóbal de las Casa in order to set up a headquarters for future expeditions. Their new home and headquarters became Na Bolom.

No trim laptops for Frans and Trudi! Viewing the huge old typewriter, I pitied the poor horse or burro that had to lug this monster through the jungle mud. In addition to co-authoring La Selva Lacandon, both Blom and Duby wrote numerous books and articles on their own. Blom's include In the Jungle: Letters from Mexico; Tribes and Temples; and Conquest of Mexico. Duby wrote (among many other books) Bearing Witness; Heirs of the ancient Maya: a portrait of the Lacandon Indians; The Lacandons, their past and present; Indigenous Chiapas; and Lacandon Images. Trudi's writing productivity was substantially greater than Frans because she was essentially a photo-journalist, while Frans focused on his explorations and archaeology. Of, course, it helped that she outlived him by twenty years.

Trudi and Frans in their later years. Though the two seem mellow enough here, they must have had a tempestuous relationship. They both had very powerful personalities, and between Blom's alcoholism and Duby's reportedly fierce temper, life must have been interesting at Na Bolom. All through the 1950s and early 1960s, the pair continued searching for Maya ruins and working with the Lacandon Maya. Na Bolom was not only a home and a base for their expeditions, but they also used it as a cultural and scientific center. Over the years, they collected materials for a huge library and made it available to outside researchers. Always looking for ways to fund their activities, they accepted paying guests at Na Bolom. These included not only visiting archaeologists, but notables such as Diego Rivera, Francois Mitterand, Helen Hayes, and Henry Kissinger. Trudi sometimes acted as a paid guide for various expeditions looking for Maya ruins. In 1963, at the age of 70, Frans Blom died. During the twenty years after his death, she was extremely active. Trudi became one of the first modern environmentalists as she led the fight against deforestation of the Lacandon jungle. She worked incessantly to support the Lacandon culture, giving lectures in Mexico, the United States, and Europe. During this period she wrote hundreds of widely-published articles, appeared on numerous television programs, and distributed thousands of free trees for replanting the forest. A film on her life, called Reina de la Selva (Queen of the Jungle) was made in 1989. Trudi Duby Blom died in 1993, at the age of 92, and was buried in the tiny village of Naha, Chiapas. She rests next to her husband and their best friend, Chan K'in Viejo, a Lacandon Maya.


Na Bolom is a museum, hotel, and research center

Na Bolom occupies most of a block in northeast San Cristóbal. The entrance to Na Bolom is on Calle Vicente Guerrero, just north of Calle Comitan. The museum hours are 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and there is a small entrance fee of approximately $44 pesos ($3.50 USD). For a bit more you can take the tours scheduled at 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM.  The facility is located in the Cuxtitali Quarter, an old indigenous neighborhood established in 1528. The building was originally a mill for grinding corn, but in the 1891 it was rebuilt as a Seminary College. When Frans and Trudi bought it in 1950, the old Seminary was in ruins, possibly as a result of the government repression against Catholics during Cristero War of the late 1920s.

Like many old Mexican buildings, Na Bolom was built around a series of open courtyards. Entrances to the various rooms are located under the covered walkways behind the arched portales. Above, one the indigenous staff walks toward the building entrance. Local Maya often make and sell their crafts in this cobblestone courtyard. I took the shot while sitting at a table of the small café facing onto the patio. The café serves excellent Chiapas coffee as well as pastries and light lunches. There are 22 rooms in the facility, including the museum, the library, and some rooms rented to guests. Other rooms are kept available for the free use of visiting Lacandon Maya. In 1986, the Mexican government designated Na Bolom as an historical monument.

A beautiful old marimba graces one of the hallways. Marimbas are very popular in Chiapas and San Cristóbal boasts a Marimba Orchestra that plays regularly in the Zócalo (see Part 3 of this series). The marimba originated with African slaves who brought their traditional instruments to the Spanish Caribbean colonies. Its use migrated to Central America and from there to neighboring Chiapas.

Another of Na Bolom's sunny courtyards, complete with a colorful mural. Frans and Trudi officially named their home/headquarters The Institute for Ethnological and Ecological Advocacy, but visiting Lacondon Maya dubbed it Na Bolom (House of the Jaguar) because of the similarity to Blom's name. Bolom, or jaguar, is a common name among Maya. The jaguar, because of its great size, speed, strength, cunning, and reputed connection with the Underworld, is viewed with great respect by the Maya. The name they gave conveys their respect for their lifelong champions and benefactors.

Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Library has 10,000 volumes in its collection. The library contains many important works on Maya history and culture and on the Lacandon people. It fell to Trudi to manage Na Bolom, even before Frans' death. It was a big job that consumed much of her time for 40 years. By the time she was in her 80s, the effort beyond her and supporters in the community persuaded her to form a non-profit organization to take of the day-to-day responsibility of running Na Bolom.

I found this colorful, hand-painted iguana lurking on a niche. The Maya have been talented craftspeople for thousands of years. Today, many of them support themselves by making and selling artifacts like this. Na Bolom continues to operate as a museum, a hotel, a restaurant. and a center for research. Volunteers run the operation, and money raised through fees, room rentals, etc. go towards various projects to help the Lacandon Maya.


The Museum's ancient Maya artifacts

The museum contains many ancient artifacts, including this bust of a proud Maya noble. Many of the artifacts come from a Classic Era site near San Cristóbal called Moxviquil, an area also famous for its orchids. The Maya were among the best sculptors of Mesoamerica, and were particularly noted for their "sculpture-in-the-round".

Two female heads, with wild hairstyles. These were undoubtedly noblewomen, since the commoners generally didn't engage in such elaborate hairdos. The smaller bust seems a bit more finely made and the face is very lifelike.

Male and female heads. The male, on the left, has an elaborate tattoo on his cheek. Neither of these shows the long sloping forehead caused by deliberate deformation of the skull in infancy. This was practiced by the noble class in many Maya areas, but not all. The female has her head cocked, as if she were listening.

Pot adorned with the rather fierce face of a nearly toothless old man. This piece closely resembles sculptures of Huehueteotl, the "Old, Old God". He was one of the most ancient of all the gods worshiped throughout Mesoamerica. Fire, of course, was one of the most fundamental and important aspects of the ancient world and it is not surprising that worship of a god associated with it would have started in very early times. Another interesting aspect is the unmistakeable goatee beard. It is firmly believed by some that since indigenous Americans have very little facial hair, they don't grow beards. The ancient sculptor who crafted this piece would seem to disagree.

A bird's face adorns this nicely crafted, three-legged pot. Pottery was often crafted with animal as well as human themes.

Human jaws and incised pottery from burial sites located by Frans Blom. He discovered many caves throughout Chiapas that will filled with bones and skulls, and others that contained large jars full of human ashes. In a monograph he wrote about these finds, he couldn't resist complaining that although his discoveries were being cited by other archaeologists at Tulane University, his name was never associated with the finds in their papers. Apparently, many years after he departed from Tulane in an alcoholic haze, he was still considered persona non grata.

Ball game marker in the shape of an elongated human head. This carved stone head, shown in profile, was used as a marker in a ball court. The head was inserted into the wall of the court using the flange at the back side. The head shows the deliberate skull elongation seen among many noble Maya families. Parents tied special boards against the heads of their infant children to deform the skulls in a manner that was considered a mark of beauty and status. While this might seem barbaric today, think about the plastic surgery practices flourishing in our time.

Copper axes, rings, and ear spools from the Post-Classic period. Items like these didn't appear in the Maya area until fairly late. They may have been imported through trade networks from the Tarascan Empire in Michoacan and  Guererro where metallurgy flourished.


The Hach Winik, or Lacandon People

Statue of a Lacandon Maya stands in a traffic circle in San Cristóbal de las Casas. The figure wears a hach huun, the typical white tunic worn by traditional Lacandon. The Lacandon are great hunters in their thickly forested world. Although many now use guns, some still hunt with bows and arrows. The Lacandon Maya call themselves Hach Winik, meaning "True Men" or "Real People". They avoided conquest and conversion by the Spanish by simply retreating into their nearly impenetrable wilderness. According to an undated, hand-written sign at Na Bolom, there are two groups of Lacandon, the northern and the southern. At the time the sign was written, the northern group of about 200 people was the most traditional and had preserved the ancient Maya culture and religion. The southern group of about 80 people had recently been Christianized and had given up much of the old culture. The sign is apparently out of date, because a more recent report states that most of the northern group has now also been seduced away from the ancient religion, although they do preserve some aspects of the old culture. Today there are about 650 Lacandon speakers still living in the forest.

The traditional hach hunn was made of tree bark beaten into a fibre. It somewhat resembles a Mexican serape, with a split in the middle to fit over the head and the sides sewn up, leaving armholes. The hach hunn extends down to mid-calf. In modern times, cotton has replaced the beaten tree fibre. This would usually be the only garment worn by a man. A Lacandon woman would wear a skirt in addition to the hach hunn, as well as jewelry made from seeds gathered in the jungle. Both men and women traditionally wore their hair long, with the women sometimes braiding theirs.

A traditional Maya na (house) sits in the Jaguar Garden across the street from the main museum. This house is typical of the highland Maya, but there are some similarities with the Lacandon. Both use thatched roofs and poles cut from jungle trees. The Lacandon na generally do not have walls since the climate in their lowland area is very hot and humid. Many Maya still live in houses like the one pictured above.

Tools of life among the Lacandon. The grooved wooden object in the lower left is baxak. The woman in the display photo is using it to beat tree bark into shape for use in a hach huun. The bowl with the long-handled spoons was used to prepare paints and dyes for decorating the hach huun. A typical Lacandon na, with its thatched roof, can be seen in the background of the display photo.

Balché pot used for preparing the fermented and mildly alcoholic drink. Balché is consumed ceremonially as part of the ritual for worshiping Kanankash, the main deity who protects the forest. Numerous, lesser gods are honored as well. The drink is made from a mixture of bark from the balché tree and sugar cane. Large quantities are prepared before the ceremony and left to ferment in a canoe. Each family that still follows the traditional beliefs builds a "god house" next to the main house. The god houses are used to burn pom (copal) incense and other small sacrifices and also for meetings.

This completes Part 7 of my Chiapas series. I hope you found the story of Frans and Trudi Blom as intriguing as I did. I encourage feedback, questions, and corrections and if you would like to make one, please use the Comments section below or email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Chiapas Part 6: Andador Miguel Hidalgo, University of Chiapas, & Templo y Arco del Carmen

Templo y Arco del Carmen looking south. The Arco is a San Cristobal de las Casas landmark and symbol of the city. This tower arch marks the southern end of Andador Miguel Hidalgo (also known as Andador Eclesiastico), the pedestrian-only street extending south from the Zócalo. South of the arch, auto traffic is allowed on the street.  Andador Miguel Hidalgo forms the southern extension of Andador 20 de Noviembre, which I showed in Part 5 of this series. The point where they meet is the Zócalo (main plaza). In this posting, we'll take a look at the many cafes and restaurants along the street, as well as the Templo y Arco del Carmen and the Law School of the University of Chiapas. The Law School has an interior courtyard that is lined on one side with large, vivid murals. For a Google map showing this area, click here.

Looking south down Andador Miguel Hidalgo toward the Arco, with the University on the right. San Cristobal's walking streets are not completely free of auto traffic, since cars are allowed to cross at the end of each block. A taxi like the one above is relatively inexpensive, but you can reach most of the interesting places within the Centro Historico on foot if you are so inclined. We like to "hoof it" when possible because it makes the experience so much richer. In the design of almost every colonial city, the Spanish laid down a strict north-south and east-west grid of streets, centered on the main plaza (Zócalo). Using this grid pattern, we usually divide an area into quadrants, exploring each in turn. This allows us to see a lot more without overtiring ourselves.


University of Chiapas

Looking north, the School of Law fills a whole city block. Carole, dressed in red at the lower left, is approaching the main entrance. The school was originally founded by the Jesuits in 1681 as the Colegio de San Francisco Javier. Its purpose was the education of the sons of the Spanish colonial elite. The style of architecture is Neo-classical. In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from all Spanish terriorties, so the school was taken over by others. In 1975, the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH) was founded, and the old Jesuit school became its Facultad de Derecho (School of Law).

Facultad de Derecho (center), looking east from atop Templo del Cerrito's hill. The Law School occupies the whole block bounded by Andador Miguel Hidalgo on the east, Crescensio Rosas on the west, Ninos Heroes on the south, and Cuautemoc on the north. The building surrounds a large open courtyard bounded by the long row of white arches you can see in the center of the photo above. On the right side of the photo, the whole south side of the block is filled by the beige-colored, ex-Templo San Agustin, now the Law School's auditorium.

A pair of young students sits in the westside entrance of ex-Templo San Agustin. Engaged in animated discussion, they didn't notice me across the small courtyard with my camera set on telephoto. Notice the ancient carved wooden door behind them.

Large murals line a hallway, separated from the Law School courtyard by portales. Carole, dressed in red, stands about half way down the hall. The white, arched portales are the same seen in the long distance shot, two photos previous to this one. The murals were painted by internationally-famed artist and photographer Carlos Jurado, who donated them to the University. Jurado was born in Chiapas in 1927 and died at the age of 83. He was not only a great painter, but in 1973 he took up photography, considering it to have magical qualities. I couldn't agree more. Jurado used "pin-hole" photography, a very early form of the craft. He invented new ways in which to use the pin-hole technique, achieving remarkable effects and gaining a world-wide reputation.

A priest raises his cross, attempting to defend the Maya from rapacious conquistadors. With some exceptions, officials of the Catholic Church have generally supported the secular authorities when they oppressed indigenous populations of Nueva España (and later, when it became Mexico). Some of the most notable of these exceptions occurred in Chiapas. In the 16th Century, Bartolomé de las Casas was horrified by the rape, murder, torture, and enslavement he personally witnessed in the Caribbean, Guatemala, and Chiapas. He fought the encomienda system (forced labor in exchange for the "benefits" of Christianity), and was officially appointed "Protector of the Indians." In 1544, Bartolomé de las Casas became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas. However, he didn't last long because the encomenderos (Spaniards granted the right to demand forced labor) bitterly complained about his interference and even attempted an assassination. De las Casas returned to Spain and, over the following years, personally lobbied a series of Spanish kings on behalf of indigenous rights. In modern times, Chiapas Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia was a strong  supporter of Liberation Theology, and backed indigenous people in their efforts to organize and defend their rights. He served as Bishop of Chiapas from 1959-1999. As with Bartolomé de las Casas, the Ladino (non-Maya) elite of Chiapas adamantly opposed Bishop Ruiz and demanded his ouster. They were outraged that anyone, particularly a Catholic Bishop, would tamper with their lucrative economic arrangements. Again, there was an assassination attempt. At one point, Pope John Paul II, a strong opponent of Liberation Theology, attempted to remove Ruiz but backed off when other Mexican bishops came to his defense. Many Maya revered Bishop Ruiz, calling him Tatic (father). Bishop Ruiz stepped down in 1999 at the mandatory Church retirement age of 75, to the great regret of the Maya and the relief of Pope John Paul and Chiapas' large landowners.

The first great heros of the War of Independence were both Catholic priests.  In the center, wielding a torch and pointing accusingly at ill-gotten Spanish loot, stands Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, for whom Andador Miguel Hidalgo was named. This first flame of revolt was suppressed in less than a year and Hidalgo was captured, executed, and his head displayed publicly to dissuade imitators. Father José María Morelos y Pavon, wearing his trademark head scarf, picked up the torch from Hidalgo. He is portrayed with a sword in one hand and a written constitution--Mexico's first--in the other. Morelos lasted longer than Hidalgo, but he was eventually captured and executed in 1815. The war continued until Mexico won its independence in 1821.

Another panel shows some of the heros of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Signing a document in the upper left is Benito Juarez, leader of the Liberal Party during the Reform War, and President of Mexico during and after the French invasion in 1862. After five years of uphill struggle he defeated and expelled the invaders, who were reputed to have the strongest army in the world at the time. Utterly incorruptible, he was a full-blooded Zapotec who raised himself from illiterate poverty in a remote Oaxacan village to become Chief Justice of the Mexican Supreme Court, and then President. Juarez died in office in 1876. In the center is Emiliano Zapata, one the greatest military leaders of the Mexican Revolution who was also its foremost social revolutionary. His famous slogan was Tierra y Libertad (Land and Liberty). Although Zapata was assassinated in 1917, he is still revered in Mexico. The Zapatista Liberation Front (EZLN) is very active in Chiapas today and is widely supported among the Maya. In the lower right is Lázaro Cárdenas, a contemporary of Franklin Roosevelt. As Mexican President in 1938, he nationalized the Mexican oil industry against the bitter opposition of the American and British corporations who had dominated it until then. He also redistributed land to the poor and indigenous people, and revolutionized Mexico's education system, dramatically increasing literacy.

Jurado's other murals are more esoteric and whimsical. Here a nude female takes a break from strumming her guitar while she listens to an angel playing a horn and a devil the flute. To me, these two little figures represent the dualism that threads through Mexican philosophy and art going back thousands of years back deep into pre-hispanic times. In this view, everything has its opposite: day and night, light and dark, good and bad, etc. One cannot exist without the other and they define each other. In this mural, they are in balance, but the question is: to whom does the woman listen most?

 In another mural, a female angel pursues a wide-eyed male devil. I wasn't quite sure whether this represented the devil's defeat, or perhaps he is playing hard-to-get against an aggressive, lustful female. This was not a major mural unto itself, but simply one of many whimsical little details on a larger piece.

Here, the opposites seem to have reconciled. This suggests the unity inherent in the ancient pre-hispanic dualism. I found the recurring appearances of the angel and devil figures to be the most intriguing parts of the mural set.


Templo y Arco del Carmen

Restaurants and sidewalk cafes line the street between the University and the Arco del Carmen. Carole and I sampled the fare of several of these and found them very good and usually inexpensive. We were delighted with this aspect of San Cristóbal. You can spend a lot at a fancy restaurant here, but it is not necessary. There are many places to get a tasty meal, in a location with a great ambiance, for a low price.

Templo y Arco del Carmen, seen from a hill to the west. The buildings with the red-tiled roofs surrounding the rust-colored Arco are the Templo del Carmen and the former convent, including the nuns' cells and the cloister. In the late 16th Century, the residents of the area petitioned the Spanish King to allow the establishment of a convent for 236 noble maidens, some of whom were daughters of the original conquistadores. The convent would allow them to live out their lives in seclusion, preserve their virtue, and learn various feminine arts. When it was authorized by King Phillip II in 1595, the convent was the only facility for nuns in Ciudad Real (the name of San Cristóbal at the time). The Convento de la Encarnación was built in 1597, although the famous Arco was not erected until almost a century later.

Arco del Carmen, from the east side. What makes the Arco unique is its Moorish style, called Mudejar, which dates back to 13th Century Spain. It has become one of San Cristóbal's best-known symbols, often described as "the most striking colonial building in the city." Early in 1677, Convent administrator José Antonio de Torres asked for city permission to build a bell tower for the convent. Three years later, permission was granted and the tower was constructed in 1680. The Arco has several interesting features. For one, the arched passageway on the ground level was once the principal entrance to the city. Second, the Arco has a special passageway on the second level which once connected the Templo to the Convent buildings.The Convent administrator ordered the building of this passageway so that the nuns could pass back and forth without encountering the citizens of the city, thus preserving their vow of seclusion. Other interesting features can be found on the ceiling above the ground-level archway.

A corner of the archway ceiling shows some signs of renovation. There appears to be some recent work on the right-hand side. The ornate, flowery decorations on the original sections show some Moorish influence. I often wonder about the craftsmen who sweated over the tiny details of an obscure corner like this. They were almost certainly Maya, since the Spanish didn't tend to dirty their own hands in that era. So the Maya, many of whom still secretly worshiped their ancient gods, were directed by the Christian Spanish to decorate a church bell tower in the style of the Muslim Moors. An interesting combination, so say the least.

An eight-pointed Moorish star is found on the ceiling dome over the interior of the archway. The star is made of wood and plaster. The Mudejar style was adopted by Christian Spaniards of Andalusia during the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors. The 700-year struggle to oust the Muslim Moors led to a love-hate relationship with the Moorish culture.  Especially influencial was the graceful Moorish architecture. The word Mudejar is a corruption of the Arabic word mudajjan, which means "domesticated." It refers to the Moors in areas captured by the Spanish Christians who surrendered to the Christians but refused to convert. Mudejar architecture continued to be popular in Spain until the mid-18th Century, although the Arco is one of the few--as well as the most outstanding--examples of it in Mexico.

The nuns cloister is now filled with small shops where local handicrafts are made and sold. The nuns of the Convento de la Encarnación were sworn not only to seclusion but also, at least theoretically, to poverty. This limited the convent's budget for fancy religious buildings, leading to the rather spartan outward appearance of their  accommodations. This is in contrast to some other orders, the Dominicans for instance, who had a fondness for sumptuous decoration. The small plaza that separates the convent buildings from the Arco is often used for cultural events.

The headquarters of the old convent are now a cultural center. When we visited, there was an art display and the curators wouldn't allow photography inside the building. In colonial Mexico, and in post-colonial society up to the Revolution, there were few careers open to unmarried women. Entering a convent was one of the socially acceptable paths for the daughters and widows of elite families. Although there were often vows of poverty associated with convent life, the women's personal lifestyles were generally not as spartan as the outward accommodations make it appear. The nuns at this convent were known as Concepcionistas which, according to one source "was not an order with a reputation in Mexico for austerity." Often the wealthy families of prospective nuns would ensure that funds were available for hiring personal servants, and for purchasing comfortable furniture, books and good food. From time to time, various convents underwent internal "rebellions". These occurred when Church authorities or factions among the nuns themselves attempted to enforce the poverty vows. These efforts often encountered fierce resistance from women accustomed to a life of privilege, regardless of what the formal rules might say. Usually Church authorities managed to conceal such rebellions from public view, but some colonial records of these outbreaks have survived. They provide a fascinating window into the secretive world of colonial nuns.

Some young graffiti artists were hard at work in the plaza outside the cultural center. They were pleased when I asked photograph their work. Like many other parts of Mexico, San Cristóbal de las Casas has its problems with graffiti. Creating opportunities for graffiti artists to do legitimate work helps keep the streets clear of the illegitimate kind that blights so many areas elsewhere.


Templo del Carmen

A flagstone path leads diagonally across the Templo gardens toward the main entrance. The original church was built in the 16th Century, prior to the convent. It was originally dedicated to San Sebastian Martir in 1578. He may have been the only saint to have been martyred twice (the first time didn't take). The building is constructed in an unusual "L" shape, with the main entrance at the bend of the L, and the two arms forming two sides to the plaza gardens. Between 1753 and 1766, the Convent de la Encarnación and the Templo were both renovated by order of Bishop Moctezuma. Over the doorway to the right of the main entrance is the date 1764, the year the work on the Templo was completed. It was also at this time that the Arco and Templo were rededicated to Nuestra Señora del Carmen.

The Templo has only one nave.  In 1993, an electrical fire swept through the church library and into the nave itself, causing much damage. The nave was rebuilt in Neo-classical style using Chiapas' beautiful and abundant wood in the altar area.

The main altar and its retablo. The retablo behind the altar is set with six wood niches, each with a different saint, Other saints are displayed on the side walls of the nave, including San Juan de Dios and San Antonio de Padua.

Nuestra Señora del Carmen is the central figure of the main altar. Her formal name, in English, is the Virgin (or Our Lady) of Mt. Carmel. She gained that name because her first devotees were hermits living on Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early 13th Centuries. According to a Church legend (since disputed) the Virgin of Mt. Carmel appeared to St. Simon of Stock in 1251 and gave him a brown piece of cloth, called a scapular. The wearing of a scapular became a symbol of devotion related to this version of the Virgin. Carmelite is the name given to those who belong to a monastic order devoted to Nuestra Señora del Carmen. They are particularly devoted to prayer and contemplation, and their headquarters is still on Mt. Carmel at the Stella Maris Monastery.

This completes Part 6 of my Chiapas series. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, I encourage you to leave any comments, questions, or corrections in the Comments section below. Another alternative is to email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim