San Francisco Javier church and the Jesuit school of it, Tepozotlan, México

The cloisters and corridors of this magnificent old Jesuit school, now the National Museum of the Virreinato (the years of the colonial Mexico), have a long, brilliant and exciting history, legends and histories are our companions when we walk through his endless corridors, every corner holds a surprise.



Some of the buildings of this complex are famous worldwide for their historical and artistic value and because of their good preservation; everything begins with the magnificent façade of the church of San Francisco Javier carved in quarry, it is a magnificent prelude for the majestic golden baroque altars, time seems to be stopped at the time when the Jesuit priests was expelled from Mexico the morning of the 25 of June of 1767, they were taken prisoners conducted to Veracruz, a port in the gulf of Mexico to be send to Cadis in Spain, the order of “the company of Jesus” (the Jesuits) was suppress acording with Pope instructions in complicity with the king of Spain, the order was restored in 1814, this episode of Mexican History fractured the bounds of loyalty of the New Spain (Mexico) with the Spanish kingdom, and maybe could be one of the motives who start the process of independence, 43 year after.


The church was finished just five years before that black morning of 1767, so the creators of this magnificent church just joy their creation for a short time, so sad, on the exile in the pontifical states, as prisoners the Jesuits wrote their own history, but that history do not fits here.



Through the years the complex had many uses, including an attempt to convert it in a jail, the people of the town of Tepozotlan where the complex is placed refused and fight with the government, so the plan was aborted, finally in 1964 was open to the world as the National Museum of the Virreinato.

I can keep on writing but no word is enough to explain the magnificence of this master piece of the syncretism of the Jesuit spirituality and the art of Mexican artists, so please enjoy it trough my lens, believe me, it is a place to visit, my photos cannot capture the full magnificence of the church.


If someone wants to know more, I will be glad to send you a more extended writhing
Hector O

This blog is dedicated to Dolo, Gerrit and Lucija, wonderful friends of Mexico