Sanctuaries of Earth, Stone, and Light : The Churches of Northern New Spain, 1530-1821 / Gloria Fraser Giffords.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Giffords, Gloria Fraser, 1938- author.

Series:

Southwest Center series.

Southwest Center Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Catholic church buildings.

Architecture, Spanish colonial.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (480 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Tucson, Arizona : The University of Arizona Press, [2007]

Summary:

Over nearly three centuries, Jesuit, Franciscan, and Dominican missionaries built a network of churches throughout the "new world" of New Spain. Since the early twentieth century, scholars have studied the colonial architecture of southern New Spain, but they have largely ignored the architecture of the north. However, as this book clearly demonstrates, the colonial architecture of Northern New Spain--an area that encompasses most of the southwestern United States and much of northern Mexico--is strikingly beautiful and rich with meaning. After more than two decades of research, both in the field and in archives around the world, Gloria Fraser Giffords has authored the definitive book on this architecture.Giffords has a remarkable eye for detail and for images both grand and diminutive. Because so many of the buildings she examines have been destroyed, she sleuthed through historical records in several countries, and she discovered that the architecture and material culture of northern New Spain reveal the influences of five continents. As she examines objects as large as churches or as small as ornamental ceramic tile she illuminates the sometimes subtle, sometimes striking influences of the religious, social, and artistic traditions of Europe (from the beginning of the Christian era through the nineteenth century), of the Muslim countries ringing the Mediterranean (from the seventh through the fifteenth centuries), and of Northern New Spain's indigenous peoples (whose art influenced the designs of occupying Europeans).Sanctuaries of Earth, Stone, and Light is a pathbreaking book, featuring 200 stunning photographs and over 300 illustrations ranging from ceremonial garments to detailed floor plans of the churches.

Contents:

Front Matter

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Scope and Focus

Styles

Plans

Builders, Materials, and Techniques

The Church Building

Details and Motifs

Furnishings

Liturgical Linens and Objects

Religious Hierarchy and Orders, Ecclesiastical Vestments

Religious Images and Retablos

Symbols and Attributes

Sacred Iconography

Select List of Churches in Northern New Spain

Notes

Sources

Index

Back Matter.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Giffords, Gloria Fraser Sanctuaries of Earth, Stone, and Light

ISBN:

9780816550562

OCLC:

1341394988