Manuel Tolsá and Neoclassical Architecture and Sculpture in Nueva España

Yesterday we mentioned Manuel Tolsá, the architect and sculptor, who brought Neoclassical Art to la Nueva España, and is buried in the Church of the Santa Veracruz.

In the last decade of the XVIII century, the Bourbon monarchies in Europe understood that after the French Revolution, the dynamics of government in Europe could not continue as before. The intellectual climate had changed over the XVIII century, from Rationalism to Positivism, from Idealism to an Age of Enlightment. The role of the Church had been downgraded considerably in many spheres of social influence.

 

Elongated top lantern of the Cathedral of Mexico´s main dome designed by Manuel Tolsá
 

King Charles III of Spain, himself a Bourbon Monarch, banished all Jesuits from all the countries of his Realm, from Mexico to Spain, from Peru to Argentina. Why did he do it. He never gave a public explanation. Some believe that the King saw in the large estates of the Jesuits a solution to his problems of public finance. Although greed could have played a part in his motivation, the reason for this expulsion might have been because King Carlos III was concerned the increasingly uncomfortable increase of power of the Jesuits in everyday politics. Another reason that might have influenced King Carlos III was that Jesuits were echoing the very philosophies that the Bourbon Monarchies considered as undermining the status quo of Europe, that is, Rationalism, Positivism and Idealism. Many religious congregations considered that the best path for the spiritual health and welfare of Catholic Europe was censorship and the use of the infamous index of prohibited books. The strategy of the Jesuits was to clearly explain modern authors, their books and philosophies and to explain what was acceptable and what was inacceptable.

 

 

Main entrance of Cathedral of Mexico

Tolsa added the final sculptures of the Theological Virtues up top

The American Revolution was another event that had the monarchs nervous. As the XVIII century came to an end, it became clear that the United States of America would not only not fail as a government, but quite to the contrary, would prove that democracy and government by the people for  the people was possible.

 

 

 

In front of the MUNAL is the covered bronze statue

El Caballito, cast by Manuel Tolsá

(Tbe overhaul of this work of art has been mishandled,

with irreversable damage done to Carlos IV´s statue)

 

 In this context, Carlos IV of Spain tried to tend a friendly hand to la Nueva España. In the political front, Carlos IV sent a new viceroy.  He sent his top man in art to run the Academy of San Carlos, and to destroy the traditional baroque art, and bring a new style, Neoclassic.  This man was Manuel Tolsá. He would substitute the old baroque altar of the Church that had belonged to the Jesuits, la Profesa, and give it a new neoclassical altar in its place. He would finish the Cathedral of Mexico City, giving it a much higher dome, that would help fill the Cathedral with light. The gothic style, so evident in the ceiling of the sacristy, is eliminated in the main aisles.

  

Side view of the Dome and its top lantern}

 

The King wanted to make it clear that he was the hero. So he commissioned Manuel Tolsa to cast his figure as the supreme leader of Nueva España, mounted on his horse, el "caballito" as it was to be called. Then the King asked Manuel Tolsa to build the Palacio de la Mineria.
 

 

View of the Neoclassic styled Palacio de Mineria,

designed by Manuel Tolsá
 

 

Front entrance of Palacio de Mineria

 

Ironically, the intellectual and political climate of Nueva España in the first years of the XIX century was much more liberal than ever. So why did his subjects rise up against the King of Spain.  In 1810, Mexican did not rise up against the Spanish King, but against the French dupe on the Spanish Throne.

Coming back to the question of if the claim that Manuel Tolsá is buried in the Santa Veracruz church, I have serious doubts. The Santa Veracruz atrium cemetery was used as a common burial site, and if Manuel Tolsá died at the end of 1816, when popular sentiment against everything Spanish was growing, maybe he was buried elsewhere, but his children kept it secret, fearing his tomb might become a target of desecration, which was the case of Cortes in Jesús Nazareno Church.

 

Tile Plaque outside Santa Veracruz Church indicating that

Manuel Tolsá was buried here

Truth of the final ruse of a crafty master?

Saint John of Dios Church, La Iglesia de San Juan de Dios

 

The Church of Saint John of God is the second of two twin churches on Avenida Hidalgo (the first of the twins is the Iglesia de la Santa Vercruz or Church of the True Holy Cross), right in front of the Alameda Park. The Facade of San Juan de Dios faces la Iglesia de la Santa Veracruz, and both churches are roughly simetrical forming a very estetic ensamble for people strolling in the Alameda Park and facing north.

Here is the wooden doorway and Stone scultured facade of Saint John of God

 

 

Main altar of Saint John of God

Side altar of Saint John of God.

Sitting down by on of the twin fountains in the little Plaza de la Santa Veracruz.

 

I am facing in the direction of the Church of the Holy Veracruz, which you do not see. What you do see is the twin Church of San Juan de Dios, behind me on the left and the red color building was once the Hospital of the Order of San Juan de la Cruz but today is the Museo Franz Mayer.

La Santa Veracruz, The True Holy Cross, and its Virgin of Guadalupe chapel

Mounted "charro"-style police in front of La Santa Veracruz church

 

A few days ago, when we were telling you the story about The Virgin of Good Remedy, and how, after the end of the War of Independence from Spain, she was brought out of the Cathedral of Mexico City, and they took her to Church of the Santa Veracruz, where a procession was organized to take her back to Basilica in Naucalpan, where she remains up until this day and age. So today we will talk about this Church of the True Holy Church, one of the oldest in Mexico.

Main wooden doorway of the Church.

 

In the previous post I mentioned the Chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe, part of the Church of the Veracruz, where a relic of the true Holy Cross, a gift from Carlos V to Hernan Cortes.

Basptismal chapel of the Santa Veracruz Church

This church is where Manuel Tolsa, the Spanish architect that introduced Neoclassic Style in architecture to Mexico City at the end of the XVIIIth century, helping to finish the Cathedral of Mexico City and the Palacio de Mineria, is buried. He was first and foremost a sculpturor, as the plaque on the side of the church (see below) testifies.

Side entrade of the Santa Veracruz Church

Notice small plaque to the right.

 

This is the plaque to the right of the Church entrance

It states that Manuel Tolsá, architect and sculptor,

is buried here.

 

He cast the bronze bust of Hernan Cortes that appears in a photo in our post a few days ago on the Hospital de Jesús. But most Mexico City residents are familiar with his magnificent bronze equestrian statue of Spanish Monarch Carlos IV, that they call the caballito. However, you can see his beautiful Our Mother of Sorrows Statue in the side altar, at the nearby church of the Profesa. Who was the mysterious model that inspired Manuel Tolsa for that statue, the same woman who Alexander Humbolt fell in love with...you will have to read another post to find out. Another mystery why is Tolsa buried here? The churchyard of the Church of the Santa Veracruz, was the place where for the most part common criminals were buried.

The Chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe
 

A more detailed view of the gold-leaf  wooden retablo of the Altar of the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Church of the Santa Veracruz

 

The altar of the Holy Cross and its relic chamber

The life and miracles of Saint Francis Xavier portrayed in a series of paintings by Miguel Cabrera, the XVIII Century Master Painter and Architect of Retablos.

 

 

Here we can see the pernicious conditions of the vault of the chapel that is severly cracked at several points and that could fall down at any moment

Jesus Nazareno Church in downtown Mexico City and the Orozco's Aposcalipsis

Yesterday, we talked about the Hospital de Jesus, the oldest operating hospital in the American continent, initiated by Hernan Cortes, the Conqueror of Tenochtitlan, who is buried in the adjoining church, Jesus Nazareno.

Over the last few days, we have talked about how this daring conquistador, Hernán Cortes, seems to have looked death straight in the eye, and kept on going in his cavalier way, without missing a step. This was the case during most of his life, and you are about to find out, even after death.

 

1823 was a difficult year for many in this new country named Mexico. 10 years of conflict had left its toll. There were many disabled veterans, and as the first years of independence past, a growing feeling of deceit, deception, and mistrust. There were riots against stores that people knew were owned by foreigners, especially Spanish merchants. Supplies were scarce, and people presumed that merchants, especially foreigners, were hoarding and speculating. Hatred towards everything related to Spain, Spaniards, and 300 years of what was seen as an oppressive colonial government was seen with contempt.

 

One such night, the mob became particularly vicious. With torches in hand, they marched from the Palacio de Gobierno or Head Governments Offices right beside the Cathedral of Mexico City, as they chanted death to the Spaniards. The crowd headed south, towards the Church of Jesus Nazareno. Lets put Hernan Cortes out of his grave, and burn him to ashes.

 

The parish priest at Jesus Nazareno knew this might happen. Weeks before, he took the bones out of Hernan Cortes Crypt and put them in a box under the altar. When the angry mobs started to pound on the Church door, he let everyone in. When they explained their intentions, he took them up to the altar, and showed them the empty crypt. My dear Children! The last Spanish regiment that left out City at the end of the war came in here and stole Cortes bones. They told me that they wanted to take him back to Spain, to Sevilla, to give him a proper burial place. But I think those Spanish soldiers were just looking for gold.

 

The priests lie seem to convince the mob, as they slowly turned their back on the altar and walked out of the Church. So even hundreds of years after he died, Hernan Cortes was still capable of making a narrow escape from an angry mob of Mexicans.

 

Besides its relationship with the famous next door hospital, and being the final resting place of this famous historical personality, Jesus Nazareno seems to be just one more of what seems like an infinite collection of XVI century churches in downtown Mexico. Except for a painting, a ceiling fresco of sorts. The Apocalypses, by Jose Clemente Orozco.

The painting might seem out of place. For two reasons.

First the Jesus Nazareno Church is a XVI or XVII century construction, made out of Tezontle stone. Clemente Orozco is decidedly XX century.

A side view of Jesus Nazareno Church with it s bell tower in the background

Secondly, Orozco usually paintings on social issues and on subjects related to social justice or Marxism or the Mexican Revolution. Orozco is not a painter of religious art.

Yet here it is...the painting of the Apocalypses...up there in the second floor choir.

,

The Apocalypses, Jose Clemente Orozcos Mural Painting on the Ceiling of the Choir

 

Orozco was very keen to human suffering. He was evidently very appalled at the reports coming over from Europe at this period on the atrocities of World War II, and this was the background for this painting.  Beyond that, I have not been able to ascertain why Orozco picked this specific Church to do this masterpiece, or if it was the other way, the Church picked him, so to speak.

 

General Information on the Church of Jesus Nazareno.

 

Address:

Pino Suarez 35, or Republica de Salvador 119

Colonia Centro, Ciudad de México, Mexico

 

Phone 5542-6501 and 7908

 

Opening hours: 8:00 am to 8:00 pm

 

 

 

Hospital de Jesus, the oldest operating Hospital in the New World

The History of the Hospital de Jesus

Today, I wrote to you about the the Virgin of the Remedies Shrine or Basilica de los Remedios as it is known in Spanish, and how the Catholic Devotion in Mexico for this Virgin had an important role in a crucial battle during the conquest of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico as we call it today.
 

I have some questions for you, before I start off on today's subject?
 

Where was the first hospital as such set up on the North American mainland? Who founded this first hospital? Why was his interest in setting up a hospital? Is it still in operation?
 

Hernán Cortes, once he won the decisive battle to conquer Tenochtitlan, urgently needed a hospital to tend to his wounded, and also to his high ranking allies, especially the warrior chiefs from Tlaxcala. He founded the Hospital de Jesús, which after almost 500 years is still in operation. He is buried nextdoor in the Church of Jesús Nazareno.
 

Majestic colonnade and central courtyard of the Hospital de Jesus, downtown Mexico City

Hernán Cortes is an uncomfortable figure in Mexican intellectual and political life. In a certain way, he was and is to a certain degree, an uncomfortable figure in Spanish intellectual and political life, during his day and age, and even nowadays. Hernán Cortes managed the greatest conquest with the fewest men in the history of mankind. He has no parallel, not even Alexander the Great or Napoleon. He was not only a great military strategist, but also a profoundly religious person, similar in this sense to Ignatius of Loyola. Yet here, in the hallway of the Hospital de Jesus, is this small bronze bust, and probably the only public monument of sorts honoring him in all of Mexico.
 

 Bronze bust of Hernán Cortes in the reception área of the Hospital de Jesús, with Estela, my wife

Nextdoor, in the Church of Jesus Nazareno, on the sidewall of the main altar, is a small red and gold crypt, the final resting place of Hernan Cortes.

 

The crypt and final resting place of Hernan Cortes on the sidewall of Jesus Nazareno Church

 

But why is Cortes buried precisely here, at this particular spot. To eternally honor his patronage for the adjoining Hospital. Right behind the church shown below is the place of an historical meeting that took place in November, 1519, when the Emperor Moctezum II, personally greeted Hernan Cortez, in a peaceful and gracious manner, in the company of his courtesans, members of his entourage and family.

The façade of the Church of Jesus Nazareno, downtown Mexico City

 

Cortes and many of the first conquistadores did everything possible to maintain intact the Aztec noble class. The concept of the nobleza indigena as called in Spanish was socially accepted not only in la Nueva España, as Mexico was called by the Spanish, but even in mainland Spain. The abolishment of many of their privileges in the XVIII century, proved in part to be to the undoing of civilization of the Nueva España, and to the discontent that led to the eventual independence of México. 

 

General Information about the Hospital de Jesús

Address: 20 de Noviembre 82, (between Republica del Salvador and Mesones) Centro, Ciudad de Mexico, CP 06090 Phone: 5542 6501 to 07

 

Our Lady of Good Remedy Shrine in Naucalpan, Mexico

The History of the Conquest of Mexico and the

Virgin of Good Remedy

In the conquest of Mexico, Hernan Cortes suffered one major setback. When the Aztecas realized that their emperor, Moctezuma, was effectively being duped by the Spaniards and was under house arrest, they became furious.
 

A bust of Hernán Cortes in the Hospital de Jesús alongside Estela, my wife.

After his historic first encounter with Hernan Cortes on November 8th, 1519, Moctezuma invited the Spaniards to his palace in the Grand Tenochtitlan as house guests. During the following days, Cortes and his fellow Spaniards were appalled when they witnessed the human sacrifices in the Templo Mayor or Major Temple of Tenochtitlan. Cortes proposed to Moctezuma to show him and his court how Christians celebrated their liturgy, and Moctezuma acceded. Cortes set up an altar with a crucifix and had his Indian servants clean up one of the chambers of the Templo Mayor, scrubbing away the bloodstains  and he asked one of his Captains,  Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte for his personal statue of Our Blessed Mother. Juan Rodriguez had received this statue from his brother, an Augustinian Monk in Spain, who recommended that he always take it with him and to ask the Blessed Virgin for her protection. The statue was that of Our Lady of Good Remedy or Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in Spanish. Spanish soldiers had invoked the protection of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios for centures, so that they would not be captured by the Muslims in their constant skirmishes with the Moors that occupied the Southern half of the Spanish Peninsula for centuries.

The issue of the human sacrifices soon became the sore spot of the dialogues between Cortes and Moctezuma. Moctezuma told Cortes that the Aztecs would not tolerate the distruction of their idols that Cortes was proposing, and exhausted after a long argument with Cortes, Moctezuma warned him: "Do what you want! If somethings goes wrong, don't  complain,  because all the Spaniards would die, as the Aztecs would deprive them of food and would attack and kill them." Cortes supposedly replied that nothing would happen to him, because God had sent him on this mission and God and His Virgin Mother would guide and protect him.

My source for this dialogue is "Mexico Pinturesco, Artistico y Monumental", by Manuel Rivera Cambas, 1880, Volume II. Rivera Cambas based his findings on the history of the Virgin of Good Remedy on the research done in the XVIII Century by the famous university professor Fray Luis de Cisneros, as well as the works of Father Florencia and Don Ignacio Carillo y Perez, who worked at the Mint. (When I say, "my source...", I don't necessarily mean that the source is trustworthy, but simply where I collect my information.)  Were Moctezuma's words a prophecy or was he already privy to his brother, Cuauhtemoc's rejection of the new Spanish religion? Or was Moctezuma in agreement with his brother? Later on, gold became the central issue of the conquest. But was it at that point? Was gold the goal or merely a sine qua non condition. What type of alliance did Cortes have in mind between the Aztecs and Spain? Something similar to what Juana and Carlos V were trying to bring together between the nobles of Flanders, Germany and Spain?

You might realize that my interpretation of the historical facts differ from the official or popular versions. Some people accuse me when they listen to me of wanting to glorify Hernán Cortes. That may be true. I do not have a degree in history and I do not have the academic qualifications to question any official account of history. Having said this, the more I read, the more I study, the more I believe that I begin to grasp the complexity of the political and ideological issues at stake upon Cortes' arrival to Tenochtitlan and I believe that we should shrink away from simplistic concepts of heroes and villains. Moctezuma was not the bewildered mystic and cowardly traitor of the harmonious and joyously happy natives of Mexico he is made out to be in so many books, and Cortes is far more than a simple ambitious opportunist, only interested in finding gold mines.

After the celebration of Christian services at the Templo Mayor, the political situation became increasingly unstable. To worsen things even more, Cortes became distracted at this critical moment, as his former superior, Diego de Velazquez, infuriated by Cortes having taken troops from Cuba without his permission and jealous of all of Cortes success, came to declare battle on him in Veracruz. During this absence, some believe that Cortes captain Alvarado started to melt down idols without consulting Moctezuma. At some point, Captain Alvarado may have become physically aggressive with Moctezuma. By the time Cortes came back, the situation was about to explode.  Cortes pleaded with Moctezuma to intercede with the mutinous crowds outside his royal palace and to calm their spirits. The response was unexpected. The furious mob turned not on the Spanish troops, but on their own emperor, Moctezuma, and they started throwing stones at him. One stone hit his arm, another his leg, and a last stone, gave Moctezuma a fatal blow. So what was happening here? Was this the beginning of  Cortes conquest or was it the beginning of a struggle for power between conservative and liberal powers, specifically between Moctezuma and Cuauhtémoc, a struggle no doubt that Cortes would know how to capitalize?

The causeways, the long low bridges across the lake surrounding Tenochtitlan, were the only way for escape. Cortes knew that the causeway to Iztapalapa was completely disabled, as well as the one on the South towards Tlalpan. So the Spaniards grabbed what gold they could, and headed west! The causeways had not been designed by the Aztecs with horseback traffic in mind (as they did not know before Cortes that horses existed), and so the attacking Aztecs made the most of the ensuing bottleneck created by the fleeing Spanish troops, throwing stones at them and showering them with arrows. Many of Cortes' troops were captured and tortured, others fell off their horses and sank in the wáter and mud of the moats, drowning helplessly under the weight of the heavy armor and booty, while others were wounded but managed to escape . Cortes was constantly moving back and forth along his retreat, assisting when possible his heavily battered rearguard.

When Cortes managed to regroup his soldiers outside of Mexico City, he sat down under a tree, and wept. That tree still exists in the Popotla neighborhood of Mexico City, and is called: "El árbol de la Noche Triste" or "The Tree of the Sad Night". When Cortes wrote his account of the battle in his "Las Cartas de Relación"  to his monarchs, the Queen Mother, Juana (also known as Juana la Loca or the Insane Queen Juana) and Charles V, he made no mention of the weeping, but he did make a point about how "... one hundrend and fifty Spaniards had lost their lives, as well as forty five mares and horses, and over two thousand indians that were in our service, as well as Mutezuma's son and his daughters that we had brought along as hostages." 

 

The Cript of Hernán Cortes, under the window at the main altar of Jesús Nazareno Church

As you all know, Cortes would reconquer the grand Tenochtitlan as Mexico City was called by the Aztecs in less than a year. Cortes laid siege on Tenochtitlan and hunger and disease paid their toll. But coming back to that dreadful night for the Spanish, la noche triste, when they lost their battle, Juan Rodríguez de Villafuerte ran back to the Templo Mayor, picked up his statue of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin, called Nuestra Señora de los Remedios or Our Lady of Good Remedy, as he did not wish to leave the Virgin unprotected against the probable profanation by the furious Aztecs, and besides he wanted to continue to count on her protection is the ensuing battle.

Basilica of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, Naucalpan, Mexico

After the night they spent in Tacuba, close to Popotla, they ventured further west, to an area close to the extinct San Joaquin River, where the wounded were taken care of. Some of the soldiers did scouting duty, checking to see if the Aztecs were planning another harassing attack on their rearguard. Some of them even climbed what is now the Remedios National Park hill, from where they had a good view. According to the writings of the famous Father Torquemada, the inhabitants of the village of Teocalhuican came out and supplied the battered troops with supplies. That village was later called San Juan, by the Spanish. Even today, in the midst of this modern suburb of Mexico City, lies a old Hacienda, used today for weddings, called Hacienda San Juan Toltotepec.

Inner courtyard of the Cloister at Our Lady of Remedies Basilica

Juan Rodríguez de Villafuerte buried his statue of the Virgin under a maguey plant during their stay there at Teocalhuican, on the hills of Los Remedios Park, with the idea of later coming back for it. Rodriguez later became one of the captains commanding the thirteen brigantines Cortes built for the lakes surrounding Tenochtitlan, setting siege on it. However, after the final victory over the Aztecs, Juan Rodriguez did not come back for his beloved Virgin of the Good Remedy. Maybe Rodriguez felt that he was invincible. He began soon afterwards his own series of conquests, usually without asking Hernan Cortes for permission. His campaign to subdue the natives on the Western coast, near what is now the state of Colima, met in defeat. He then turned south, discovering a beautiful bay, which he name after himself and his hometown, Villafuerte. In his careless way of conducting his campaigns, Rodriguez was eventually captured by the Indians and butchered alive. Yet the town he had discovered grew, and became an important seaport, yet as time went on, people no longer called it Villafuerte. You might have heard of it by its original native name...Acapulco.

  

 

A half century past by, and the Spanish had a firm control over not only Tenochtitlan, but the rest of the Nueva España. Back at the sleepy village of Teocalhuican, the chief made an important discovery when harvesting some maguey for their honey. He took a strange doll-like figure to the local Franciscan Friars so that they could tell him what it was he had discovered. The Chief's name was Cequautli, which means Eagle in the Nahuatl language. When he was baptized they named him Juan, or John, just like the patron saint of their village. The Franciscan Friars knew exactly what this figure was and where it had come from: it was Juan Rodrigue de Villafuerte's longlost Virgin of Good Remedy. At this point, it was decided that a Basilica should be built on the hilltop of Naucalpan, overlooking Mexico City.

Inside the church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios

240 years later, Jose Maria Morelos organized an army to free Mexico from Spain, and used the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on his standard, a sort of banner. Jose Morelos was such a brilliant commander, that Napoleon said of him: "...with three such men like Jose Morelos, I could conquer the world". The Spanish retaliated,  adopting the Virgin of Good Remedy on their standard. The Virgin was removed from Her Basilica,  and was sent to the Cathedral of Mexico for the length of the war. This war between the "Virgins" reached a point during the war, that "loyalists" spies were supposedly sent to watch people going to the Cathedral and praying, and at which altar they prayed, so as to ascertain their loyalty to the "Crown". After Mexico's Independence,  the Virgin came back to this Basilica, in a huge procession from the Church of the True Veracruz, a church personally funded by Cortes, where we can still find a relic of the Cross of Christ that the King Charles V gave him as a reward.

A relic of the True Cross in the Chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Church of the Veracruz

Thousands of pilgrims visit the Virgin every day: most of them are possibly not aware of all the history surrounding her.  For them, she is simply "their Virgin".

The Virgin of the Remedies is in a glass incasement behind the main altar.

Shrine of Our Lady of Good Remedy,

 a place for pilgrims and prayers.

The neighborhood of Naucalpan is part of the metropolitan area of Mexico City, and has every bit of the noise and traffic that you can expect in the most congested areas of the city. Yet the hill of Los Remedios, and especially the Shrine, provide a shelter from the dinge, with a comforting afternoon breeze during these spring months of high temperatures and even higher pollution levels.

 A stunningly beautiful purple flowered Jacaranda tree at the entrance of the Atrium,

 gives a welcome greeting to the weary pilgrim at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Remedy.

The shrine is a complex that includes an atrium, a church, a bell tower,  a baptismal fountain,  a seminary,  a huge outdoor garden with the stations of the Via Crucis and a cloister. The Shrine was elevated to the category of Minor Basilica by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, in 1999.

When you drive up the road, you can park your car outside the gate of the atrium. The atrium was possibly the most important architectural element of the first XVI century missions. The atrium had a cross, called an Atrium Cross. The stone crosses in these atriums many times contained a series of carved symbols, such as the nails used in the crucifixion, the ladder, the crown of thorns, and even the Crown of the King of Spain. The atrium was used for giving catechism and general religious instruction. The atrium was very handy for acts in which a large number of the faithful would take part, as well as for catechumenal work.

If you don't mind crowds, come to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Remedy on a Sunday. Many locals come here for Sunday Mass. If you enjoy the peace and quiet a church can provide, come during the week.

General Information our Our Lady of Good Remedy Shrine in Naucalpan, Mexico

Address:
Calzada de los Remedios,
Colonia Los Remedios,
Naucalpan de Juarez, Estado de Mexico
CP 53400

Phone: 55 5363 0432

Email: basiclicadelosremedios@gmail.com

Church hours
Monday to Friday: 8:00am to 7:30 pm
Saturday: 8:00am to 7:30 pm
Sunday: 5:45am to 8:00 pm