This month's World Heritage Site

Queretaro, Mexico
A colonial gem in a modern setting 

By Toni Dabbs

Driving through the outskirts of Queretaro, one notices all the trappings of a middle-class, industrial Mexican city. Familiar names such as Price Club, Holiday Inn and Kentucky Fried Chicken beckon from the side of the modern highway. 

Tourists en route from Mexico City to the popular colonial towns of San Miguel de Allende and Guadalajara might be tempted to bypass this hive of commerce. But the wise ones will plunge in, knowing that the center of Queretaro itself is a colonial gem. 

Colonial Queretaro retained the twisting alleys of its old Indian quarter side by side with the 16th century geometric street plan of its Spanish conquerors. The Otomi, Tarasco and Chichimeca lived peacefully with the Spaniards in the old town through the 17th and 18th centuries, when many outstanding civil and religious structures were built. During the 19th century, quiet Queretaro found itself in the midst of Mexico’s struggle for independence. 

For these reasons, the Historic Monuments Zone of Queretaro was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. 

Symbolic of Queretaro is its Aqueduct, considered one of the great civil engineering feats in North America. Begun in 1726 and finished in 1738, it has 74 massive stone arches that stretch for six miles along the Avenida de los Arcos to the eastern edge of the colonial center. When it was built, the Aqueduct made it possible for the residents of Queretaro to enjoy many public and private fountains, and it still carries water into the city. 

On a guided tour of Convento de la Santa Cruz, visitors can see a clay pipe system developed to receive water from the Aqueduct and distribute it throughout the monastery. 

Established in the 16th century, Convento de la Santa Cruz stands on a former battleground atop a hill overlooking the old town, where the apparition of St. James on horseback convinced Otomi Indians to surrender to the conquistadors. Other miracles associated with the site include trees with cross-shaped thorns grown from a cane stuck in the ground by pious friar Antonio Margil de Jesus in 1697. 

By the end of the 17th century,  Convento de la Santa Cruz operated the first Catholic missionary school in the Americas, and it continues to serve as a religious school today. 

The monastery also functioned as a fortress when forces loyal to Emperor Maximilian occupied it near the end of the Mexican War of Independence. Maximilian used it as his headquarters from February to May 1867. After his surrender and subsequent death sentence, he was confined at Convento de la Santa Cruz while he awaited the firing squad. 

A town of churches 

Clustered around the center of the old town are a number of noteworthy churches, including Santo Domingo de Guzman (late 17th century), La Congregacion (containing a splendid pipe organ and beautiful stained glass windows), San Antonio (17th and 18th centuries, containing two large pipe organs and elaborate chandeliers) and San Augustin (18th century, with a tile covered cupola supported by figures of angels). 

The Church of Santa Clara, now Templo del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, was once part of a large convent. Its plain 17th century exterior conceals a richly ornamented interior of the 18th century Churrigueresque style, a variation of Baroque named for Spanish architect Jose Benito Churriguera (1665-1723). Carved and gilded retablos, or altarpieces, display figures of apostles, saints, cherubim, flowers and other decorations. 

The church’s front garden, formerly the convent orchard, features a fountain with a sculpture of Neptune by Mexican artist Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras (1759-1833). 

Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, or La Corregidora, wife of the mayor of Queretaro during Mexico’s early independence movement, allowed rebel leaders to meet at her house and later warned them of a plan to arrest them. She was held in one of the convent’s cells after the conspiracy was discovered in 1810. 

Templo de Santa Rosa de Viterbo, a tall and stately church completed in 1752, is considered the crowning achievement of Ignacio Mariano de las Casas, an architect who left his mark throughout Queretaro. The unusual design incorporates inverted flying buttresses, each decorated with an impish mask sticking out its tongue. 

Its interior is a Churrigueresque showcase, including: superbly carved retablos and confessional; pulpit inlaid with silver, ebony and ivory; life-size figures of the apostles at the Last Supper; Baroque organ, built in 1759 and still in use; and mural by Tresguerras depicting St. Rose of Viterbo surrounded by her nuns. 

What remains of the former Convento de San Francisco, an immense monastery established in 1540 and mostly destroyed during the War of Independence, is now Museo Regional de Queretaro (Regional Museum). A two-story remnant of the old building surrounding a courtyard houses works by artists of the colonial period and a collection of historical weapons, documents and other items. 

And the former Convento de San Augustin, designed in 1732 by Mariano de las Casas, is now Museo de Arte de Queretaro (Art Museum). Works are exhibited in the former monastery’s Baroque cloister, featuring stone caryatid columns and bird and floral decorations. 

A locus of missionary activity 

Colonial Queretaro had such a large number of religious structures because it was a Franciscan base where missionaries were trained and dispersed to spread Christianity and Western culture throughout North and Central America. But it also was a supply center for the silver mines in nearby Guanajuato and Zacatecas, and the old town has some handsome houses built for prominent residents. 

Casa de los Perros (House of the Dogs) was the home of Mariano de las Casas. The little 18th century palace takes its name from carvings of unworldly dogs that adorn the exterior wall and the patio. 

Casa de Ecala, also dating from the 18th century, is a two-story mansion with elegant wrought iron balconies. In the upper section, a carved rope design separates the quarried stone work from blue-white Talavera tiles. The building now is a government office. 

Casa de la Marquesa was home to the Marquise de la Villa del Villar del Aguila. Built in 1756, the stately Baroque mansion has a stone facade and a carved wooden gate. Its large entranceway leads to an interior courtyard with Moorish arches. Remodeled in 1995, it now operates as a hotel. 

Casa de la Corregidora held the treasury and prison before becoming the residence of Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, who welcomed the rebel leaders there. The two-story mansion has intricate wrought iron balconies. Today it is used as Palacio de Gobierno, the state government building. 

Another government building is considered to be one of the finest structures in Queretaro. Palacio Federal originally was an Augustinian convent. Its tripartite Baroque facade features niches containing statues, while its cloister has magnificently carved arches and pillars. Dating from the first half of the 18th century, it is attributed to Mariano de las Casas. 

Teatro de la Republica didn’t open its doors until 1852. However, since then, it not only has hosted national and international cultural events but also has played a major role in the country’s history. The theater was the setting for the war tribunal that sentenced Emperor Maximilian to death in 1867, and it was the location for the signing of Mexico’s Constitution in 1917. The stage backdrop lists the names of the signatories and the states they represented. 

Many old buildings in Queretaro were saved by the foresight of the state government, which designated the town’s colonial center as a historic preservation district back in the 1970s. Zoning legislation encouraged restoration of the structures. 

British Columbia-based Toni Dabbs is a regular contributor to The Cultured Traveler.