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Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl

Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl

The Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl is a serial property with 15 component parts located in the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala in Mexico, built as part of the evangelisation and colonisation of the northern territories of Mexico. They are in an excellent state of conservation and are good examples of the architectural style adopted by the first missionaries – Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians – who converted the indigenous populations to Christianity in the early 16th century. They also represent an example of a new architectural concept in which open spaces, including wide atria and posa chapels, are of renewed importance. The influence of this style is felt throughout the Mexican territory and even beyond its borders.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Premiers monastères du XVIe siècle sur les versants du Popocatepetl

Les Premiers monastères du XVIe siècle sur les versants du Popocatepetl sont un bien en série comprenant 15 éléments constitutifs situés dans les États de Morelos, Puebla et Tlaxcala au Mexique, construits dans le cadre de l’évangélisation et de la colonisation des territoires septentrionaux du Mexique. Parfaitement conservés, ils sont très représentatifs du modèle architectural suivi par les premiers missionnaires – franciscains, dominicains et augustins – qui évangélisèrent les populations indigènes au début du XVIe siècle. Ils sont aussi un exemple d’un nouveau concept architectonique dans lequel les espaces ouverts, tels que de vastes atriums et des chapelles posa, acquièrent une importance renouvelée. L’influence de ce style est ressentie dans l’ensemble du territoire mexicain et même au-delà de ses frontières.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

أديرة أوائل القرن السادس عشر الواقعة على سفوح بوبوكاتيبيتل

يمثَّل المجمَّع الفرنسيسكاني لدير وكاتدرائية رقاد السيدة جزءاً من أول برنامج للبناء، وكان قد استُهلَّ في عام 1524 بغية التبشير في الأقاليم الشمالية للمكسيك واستعمارها. وكان هذا المجمَّع واحداً من الأديرة الخمسة الأولى التي أنشأها الرهبان الفرنسيسكان والدومينيكان والأوغسطينيين، ووهو واحد من الثلاثة المتبقية منها، وقد سبق إدراج الديرين الآخرين قي قائمة التراث العالمي. ويعتبر مجمَّع تلاكسكالا مثالاً على النمط المعماري وأسلوب تخطيط المكان اللذين طُورا بما يتلاءم مع الإطار الثقافي الجديد، فأدخلا عناصر محلية من أجل تهيئة الأماكن مثل الباحات الفسيحة والكنائس من طراز "كابيلا بوسا". ويتحلَّى المبنى بسمتين خاصتين أخريين، ألا وهما وجود برج قائم بذاته وسقف خشبي مشغول على طريقة الفن المدجَّن، وتغيب هاتان السمتان عن الديرين الآخرين اللذين سبق إدراجهما في قائمة التراث العالمي كجزء من هذه الممتلكات المتسلسلة. ويُسهم هذا الموقع في فهم أفضل لتطور النمط العمراني الجديد الذي أثَّر في التطور الحضري وفي أبنية الأديرة على حدٍّ سواء حتى القرن الثامن عشر.

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

波波卡特佩山坡上最早的16世纪修道院

圣母升天修道院和主教座堂的方济各会建筑群是为在墨西哥北部地区传播基督教和殖民而于1524年启动的首个建设计划的一部分。该建筑群是方济各会、道明会和奥斯定会修士建立的首批5座修道院之一,也是目前尚存的3座之一,其它2座已被列入世界遗产名录。特拉斯卡拉建筑群提供了一种为应对新的文化环境而开发出的建筑模式和空间解决方案范例,她整合了当地元素,创造出宽阔的中庭和祈祷室等空间。该建筑群还有另外2个特点,一幢独立的塔楼和一座木制的穆德哈尔建筑,这是已经列入名录的其它修道院所没有的。它有助于更好地了解一种新的建筑模式的发展,该模式在18世纪之前一直影响着城市发展和修道院建筑。

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Монастыри начала XVI века на склонах вулкана Попокатепетль

Францисканский ансамбль монастыря и собора Успения Пресвятой Богородицы является частью первой программы строительства, начатой в 1524 году в целях евангелизации и колонизации северных территорий Мексики. Ансамбль является одним из первых пяти монастырей, основанных францисканскими, доминиканскими и августинскими монахами, и одним из трёх сохранившихся монастырей. Два других уже внесены в Список всемирного наследия. Ансамбль зданий в Тласкале представляет собой пример архитектурной модели и пространственных решений, разработанных в ответ на новый культурный контекст, объединивший местные элементы для создания таких пространств, как широкие атриумы и часовни capilla posa. Объект имеет две другие особенности: отдельно стоящую башню и деревянный мудехар, которых нет в других монастырях, уже внесенных в Список всемирного наследия как часть серийного объекта. Это способствует лучшему пониманию развития новой архитектурной модели, которая повлияла как на городское развитие, так и на монастырские постройки до XVIII века.

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Primeros monasterios del siglo XVI en las laderas del Popocatepetl

El conjunto franciscano del monasterio y la catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción forma parte del primer programa de construcción iniciado en 1524 para la evangelización y colonización de los territorios del norte de México. El conjunto es uno de los cinco primeros monasterios establecidos por frailes franciscanos, dominicos y agustinos, y uno de los tres que aún se mantiene en pie. Los otros dos ya fueron inscritos en la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial. El conjunto de edificios de Tlaxcala es un ejemplo del modelo arquitectónico y de las soluciones espaciales desarrolladas en respuesta a un nuevo contexto cultural, que integró elementos locales para crear espacios como amplios atrios y capillas posas. El edificio presenta otras dos particularidades, una torre exenta y un artesonado de madera estilo mudéjar que no se encuentran en los otros monasterios ya inscritos en la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial como parte del sitio en serie. La extensión contribuye a una mejor comprensión del desarrollo de un nuevo modelo arquitectónico que influyó tanto en el desarrollo urbano como en los edificios monásticos hasta el siglo XVIII.

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

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Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Tlaxcala (extension of the Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl) © J.GUADALUPE PEREZ
Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

The Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl is a serial property with 15 component parts located in the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala in Mexico, built as part of the evangelisation and colonisation of the northern territories of Mexico. The monasteries are: Atlatlahucan, Cuernavaca, Tetela del Volcan, Yautepec, Ocuituco, Tepoztlan, Tlayacapan, Totolapan, Yecapixtla, Hueyapan and Zacualpan de Amilpas in Morelos; Calpan, Huetotzingo and Tochimilco in Puebla; and San Francisco in Tlaxcala. These monasteries are considered to represent good examples of the architectural style adopted by the first missionaries – Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians – with spatial solutions and the architectural expressions that materialised the fusion and synthesis of heterogeneous elements. A considerable number of these buildings have an explicit military aspect, and compositional elements with definite Mudejar and Renaissance origins. The expression of the native culture is also present, from the open spaces used for worship to the work expressed in the decorations and the wall paintings.

The monasteries also represent an example of a new architectural concept in which open spaces are of renewed importance. The influence of this style is felt throughout the Mexican territory and even beyond its borders. The distinctive characteristic of these monasteries resides in the relationship between built and open spaces and, above all, in the emphasis placed on the wide forecourt or atrium with its individual posa and open chapels that offered a variety of solutions. The monasteries were founded in areas of dense indigenous settlement, with the object of providing focal points for urban settlements, a role which has survived to the present day.

The 15 monasteries all conform to an architectural model which spread rapidly over the region and contains certain basic elements common to this new type of monastic house: atrium (usually rectangular), church (usually simple in plan but of imposing size, with a single nave), and monastic buildings, usually located to the south of the church and disposed around a small courtyard or patio, designated as the cloister.

The great atria, which are open spaces, surround the entire perimeter of the church (in some cases most of it). They are delimited by Resting Chapels in the atrium’s internal perimeter, called the processional path, and the walls have small niches for the Viacrucis. Another important element is the Open chapel. The hydraulic structures also are elements of the exterior composition that conducted water from the upper part of the mountain for community use.

Criterion (ii): The considerable influence exercised by the architectural model of the Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl, which spread over a very wide area, is incontestable. They operated not only in the second half of the 16th century in the centre and south-east of Mexico, but continued with the expansion of colonisation and evangelisation of the lands to the north in the 18th century, reaching the present-day United States of America from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, in the form of a large number of smaller establishments known as “missions” rather than monasteries.

Criterion (iv): The Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl is a group of monasteries selected as being representative of a large total. They bear characteristic witness to a certain type of structure, architectural as well as urban, which served as the centre of new human establishments for the reorganization of an enormous territory and for the introduction of new social and cultural elements.

Integrity

Since each of the monasteries has preserved all of the original elements of its architectural complex, they are a complete representation of an actual 16th century Monastery. In general, they are in a good state of conservation and physical integrity has been maintained. Decay processes have been controlled by the yearly implementation of conservation projects. There are important challenges to be addressed regarding the physical setting of these monasteries, particularly in terms of controlling urban sprawl at diverse locations.

Authenticity

The level of authenticity in design and materials at the monasteries is high. After the Council of Trent many of the monastic buildings were converted to other uses and in the course of the 19th century new public buildings, such as schools and clinics, were built in the monastery precincts. However, the churches have all retained their original function and as a result have preserved the greater part of their original form and furnishings. The conditions of authenticity might be threatened by unpredictable natural phenomena, such as earthquakes and/or eruption of the Popocatepetl volcano, because of its proximity. In the case of the latter, there could be total or partial loss of the monasteries.

Protection and management requirements

The legal protection of the Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl involves three different levels of the government: federal, state and municipal. The legal instruments that ensure the protection of the property include the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States; the General Law of Human Settlements, Management Land and Urban Development of 2016, the 1972 Federal Law on Historic, Archaeological and Artistic Monuments and Zones and the General Law of National Assets of 2004.

The management of the property is the co-responsibility of heritage authorities at the federal, state, municipal and associated representatives from civil groups. Management and conservation centres aim at ensuring the stability of the monasteries and their elements through the implementation of conservation, maintenance and awareness-raising activities.

The efforts towards developing an overall management framework for the whole property, which should include a common risk management plan, a monitoring system, and interpretation, communication and tourism strategies, should be pursued and a dedicated management unit to coordinate its implementation should be set up.