Exploring Colonial Mexico©
Exploring Colonial Mexico©
El barroco poblano
The Angels of TlancualpicánOne of the main interests of our web site is el barroco poblano, the folk art and architecture of Puebla. In an earlier post we looked at a group of colorful "folk baroque" churches in southern Morelos and Puebla. One of these is in Santa Maria Tlancualpicán, a sunbaked village that lies just inside the Puebla state line.
The gaudy church front, framed in popular "retablo" style, is currently painted in blues, greens and reds. Spiral half columns draped with leafy stucco tendrils divide the facade while the sculpture niches are framed by colorful foliated reliefs, some with drawn stucco curtains. Intricate relief ornament above the niches and along the friezes is picked out in bright colors.
Colorful statues of bearded saints fill the niches, and reliefs of archangels flank the Virgin on the upper level. The most notable figure is the stucco relief of Jesus the Nazarene floating above the doorway, the rope around his neck held like a tether by a soldier in the spandrel. Figures of angels and archangels in a variety of postures appear throughout the church, notably on the colorful tower.
The renovated church interior is almost as spectacular. Its vaults and domes are patterned with colorful new blue and red glazed tile in the Pueblan manner, some including panels portraying folkloric angels dressed in "jaguar skins," carrying objects associated with Christ's Passion.
Angel vault
Angel with pincers and drum
Angel with cross
Angel with column
