A Catholic chapel stands above the town of Amecameca, built into the top of a tree-covered hill called the Sacromonte. A doorway in the back of the chapel leads to a cave of volcanic rock, where an effigy is located that depicts the deceased, reclining Christ. This Christ in the cave is an image of Santo Entierro, the Holy Sepulcher of Christ, and it is believed to be miraculous. Native leaders in Amecameca helped to establish the site in the 1580s and benefited from their founding of the place throughout the colonial period. Spanish friars and Nahuas had different ideas of what was actually miraculous about the location and the image, and each understanding involved different senses of history. For the original residents, the hill, the cave, the territory around the shrine, and the beneficent human beings who directed the construction of the chapel all played roles in an astonishing...
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