I’ve presented this in Montreal (October 2009), at the International Conference "Religious Houses: A Legacy", organized by Univiersité du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Concordia University, and the Conseil du Patrimoine Religieux du Québec. I was representing the General Directorship of Sites and Monuments of Cultural Heritage and the Mexican Ministry of Culture.
20. The Church was the main landowner of the country. The clergy owned more than half of non-religious rural and urban properties. For nuns, there were 21 convents in Mexico City. All together, owned more than 897 urban properties to live from the rent. Mexico City Ignacio de Castera, 1776
82. Founded in 1576 as a Dominican nuns convent The washing place is a characteristic building
83. “Your Reverence should know by now the persecutions, injustices and cruelties that have been committed against us, deprivating us from our communal belongs, throwing us outfrom our beloved cloister and dispersing us in diverse houses, where we suffer many deprivations and miseries and an addition of sadness and sorrow” Letter from the prioress Plácida de JesúsMaría y José to the general of the Dominicans. Archive of the Santa Catalina de Siena Convent
84. It housed the City Hall, a Masonic Temple, two schools, the jail and, in the church, a cinema
85.
86.
87.
88. Our Lady of CharityGirls’ SchoolTheBankers’ Club
100. Examples Franz Mayer Museum: Lent to the Trust San Ildefonso: UNAM, CONACULTA, City’s Gov. Lerdo de Tejada Library: Bought by the Treasure Ministry Government Palace of Michoacán State: State’s property Camino Real Hotel: Lent to a private company (!) Banker’s Club: Private property since Reform
101.
102. Not to be prescribed to any particular
103. Tax free“Every temple destined to the public worship before the 29th of January 1992, is considered a property of the Nation” Official National Diary 28th of January 1992
108. General Directorship of Sites andMonuments of Cultural Heritage It is in charge of protecting, restoring, conserving and cataloguing the buildings and objects of federal property with artistic and historic value in the whole country. 20,000 religious buildings in the country and the related artistic objects
109. Fund of Support to Communities for the Restoration of Monuments and Artistic Goods of Nation’s Property FOREMOBA
111. “The religious subject has given the most characteristic examples of every epoch’s architecture, up to the point that it can be said that the history of architecture is, in general, the history of religious art.”Félix Candela (1910-1997)
112. Also, their value comes not just from the point of view of their artistic and architectural value. The outstanding relevance of the cult building comes from its protagonist position in the society.
113. Churches and convents are collective expressions result of the way in which a community getsrelated among them and with the Divinity. They are, as well, an effort from a social group to make a master piece that represents them.
114. We all know how important the preservation of these buildings is. We have the interesting challenge of spreading this into the whole society.
115.
116. Benitez Fernando: Historia de la Ciudad de México. México. Salvat Mexicana de Ediciones, S. A. de C. V. 1984.
117. Casasola Gustavo: Seis Siglos de Historia Gráfica de México 1325-1976. México. Editorial Gustavo Casasola, S. A. 1978.
118. Castro C; Campillo J; Auda L: México y sus alrededores. Edición facsimilar. México. Establecimiento Litográfico de Decaen, Editor. 1855-1856.
119. De la Maza Francisco; Pardinas-Illanez Felipe; De la Encina Juan; et al: Cuarenta Siglos de arte Mexicano. México. Editorial Herrero, S. A. 1981.
120. García-Cubas Antonio: El Libro de Mis Recuerdos. 6ª. Edición. México. Editorial Patria, S. A. 1969.
122. Gurría-Lacroix José; O’Gorman Edmundo; Velásquez Ma. Del Carmen; et al: Historia de México. México. Salvat Mexicana de Ediciones, S. A. de C. V. 1978.
123. Olavarría Roberto; Rosell Lauro E; Chapela Gonzalo: México en el Tiempo. México. Excelsior S.C.L. 1946.
124. Rojas Pedro: Historia General del Arte Mexicano. Época Colonial. México. Editorial Hermes, S. A. 1963.
125. Rivera y Cambas Manuel: México Pintoresco Artístico y Monumental. Edición facsimilar. México. Editora Nacional. 1880.
126. Rosell Lauro E: Iglesias y Conventos Coloniales de México. 2ª. Edición. México. Editorial Patria, S. A. 1961.
127. Toro Alfonso: La Cantiga de las Piedras. 2ª. Edición. México. Editorial Patria, S. A. 1961.
128. Toussaint Manuel : Arte Colonial en México. México. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 1983.