Since long before the arrival of the Spanish, the ancient Michoacán.
The land of the Purépecha, prided itself on being something like an orchard, with its dense forests and landscapes populated with dense vegetation, extensive ravines such as that of the eleven towns, wide valleys decorated with lakes and lagoons of singular beauty, high mountains and volcanoes and a great coastline with countless indescribable corners. In addition, it was an important region where an indigenous culture of great relevance and significance developed, although we cannot forget its rich viceregal tradition.
In this period, the amalgamation of cultural elements allowed Michoacán to become something special, since a bit of its colonial being has been reflected in each of the expressions of its architecture, from the 16th century to the dawn of the 19th century. . In the rich range of cultural and artistic expression achieved in these lands, you will find picturesque towns in which the Franciscan evangelization left magnificent constructive examples, such as Angahuan, Tzintzuntzan, Quiroga and Pátzcuaro, all places with a good sample of civil and religious architecture. , or like the naive little towns of Naranja de Tapia, Tupátaro and Erongarícuaro, with their samples of popular art linked to Christian symbolism.
The geographical regions of Michoacán change, but in all of them you will find magnificent examples of the work of friars, men and women who erected sturdy buildings, temples, convents and stately palaces and mansions, all with a particular stamp of beauty and distinction. Suffice it to remember here the capital city, the famous Morelia, with its image of quarried roses and the great towers of its cathedral, its gardens and squares, its old Colegio de San Nicolás, the majestic Clavijero Palace, the nunneries with their temples. and altarpieces and many other constructions that embellish the city and that seem to take root with the great amount of legends and popular advice around them. Later, we must also mention the beautiful and picturesque towns of ancient mining tradition, such as Tlalpujahua, where the bonanza of the sinkholes gave for the construction of beautiful temples and manor palaces that lasted while the wealth lasted. Other populations near the lakes and settled in the mountains, preserved their simple appearance of cobbled streets, with their austere temples in which the strength of the evangelists and the ingenuity of the indigenous people were combined to achieve true examples of popular fervor. In these populations, also the simple forms of the houses and buildings tried to adapt to the surrounding geography using wood, shingles and other natural resources.
A visit to Michoacán will allow you to discover a different world, because in each corner of its vast territory you will find a different landscape, with remains of a long tradition in which beliefs and a spirit that still usually speaks in Tarascan converge.
