Museo Nacional del Virreinato
Mexico · Americas
About
The Museo Nacional del Virreinato (in Spanish, National Museum of the Viceroyalty of New Spain) is located in the former College of San Francisco Javier in Tepotzotlán, Mexico State, Mexico. It belongs to Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. The complex was built by the Aztecs, and used by the Jesuits starting in the 1580s. Three centers of learning were founded in the complex: a school to teach indigenous languages to Jesuit evangelists, a school for native boys, and the College of San Francisco Javier, to train Jesuit priests. The complex comprises three sections: the college area, with dormitories, a library, a kitchen, and a domestic chapel; the Church of San Francisco Javier; and the Church of San Pedro Apostol. The former college and the Church of San Francisco Javier have been converted into the Museo del Virreinato, with the former college area housing a large collection of art and ordinary objects from the colonial era, and the Church of San Francisco Javier housing one of the most important collections of Churrigueresque altarpieces in Mexico. The Church of San Pedro Apostol is the only part of the entire complex that is still used for religious purposes.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.