Tepotzotlan, Mexico

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It was once a centre for spiritual instruction in New Spain. Today its convent houses a highly interesting museum of religious art, while the well-restored church is one of the jewels of Mexican Baroque architecture.

History

The Jesuit college of San Martín was founded in 1582 in Tepotzotlán (Náhuatl: "place of the hunch-back"), an old Otomí settlement, and built with the support of Indian caciques, using native labour. It was used for the instruction of the Spanish in the Indian languages of Náhuatl and Otomí and for the religious education of the sons of the Indian élite. In the 17th and 18th c. the convent was considerably enlarged. One of the most important patrons was Pedro Ruiz de Ahumada, who made possible the rebuilding of the church, which was named after Saint Francisco Xavier. It was newly consecrated in 1682, but not completed until 1762. With the expulsion of the Jesuits from New Spain in 1767, the college and its church passed into other hands. After Mexico gained its independence, the Jesuits returned to Tepotzotlán, though with less influence, and they remained there until the secularisation of the convents in 1859. In more recent times the convent and church were placed under the control of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Since 1964 a musuem of religious art has been housed in the former convent and in the church.