About 70km/43mi south of Celaya (via MEX 51 to Salvatierra) the little Tarascan town of Yuriria (formerly Yuririapúndara; 1733 m (5688 ft); population: 40,000; fiesta: January 3rd, Día de la Preciosa) lies on the shores of Salvatierra's crater lake. It boasts an extremely handsome Augustinian monastery, built between 1556 and 1567 by Padres Diego Chávez y Alvarado (a relative of the conquistador Pedro Diego Chávez) and Pedro del Toro. For many years this cross between a priory and a fortress was a refuge for monks and local converts to Christianity from the frequent attacks by hostile Indians.
Most unusually for the 16th c., the transept of the church is built in the manner of the earlier medieval Gothic tradition. The exterior is distinguished by a solid tower with open bell-cage, crenellated roof and massive flying buttresses. The main façade, clearly copied from the Spanish-Plateresque façade of Acolman, is an inspired example of imaginative Indian adaptation of the Plateresque style, the latter's strong lines being softened here by a complicated pattern of flowers and foliage. At the side of the tower stand statues of St Peter and St Paul. The side elevation with the doorway takes the form of a scaled-down version of the main façade, with a statue of St Nicolás, the patron saint of the province, above the cornice. The interior of the church was partially damaged by fire in the 19th c. and later restored. The monastery's superb two-storey cloister with its magnificent flight of steps consists of a series of Gothic arcades. Pre-Hispanic artefacts and 17th and 18th c. colonial period paintings and sculptures are displayed in four rooms.
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