San Cristobal de las Casas

Though the purpose of this paperback in Spanish is not clear, it proves that San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, was an architectural backwater of the Spanish Empire. Since the town has been a backwater in all other aspects, it is not surprising to learn that its religious orders never achieved importance and therefore never built much which lasted or had esthetic value. In providing the first historical study dealing with buildings which have survived in San Cristóbal, the author notes the insignificance of civil construction and examines seven major Church edifices. The investigation is based upon personal observation, printed sources, and material in the Archivo General de Gobierno, Guatemala, and the Archivo de Indias, Sevilla, but there is little archival documentation. This study will be of interest to those who visit San Cristóbal and to historians who wish to differentiate architecture as it developed in the frontier area between Guatemala and southern Mexico. There is no general conclusion except a statement that San Cristóbal is stylistically more similar to Antigua, Guatemala, than to Oaxaca, Mexico.