The Malinalco murals 1: the Porteria

San Salvador Malinalco

The Augustinian priory of San Salvador Malinalco played a key role in the evangelizing and missionization of Michoacán and western Mexico. In the 1540s the Augustinians took over a humble Franciscan mission and began work on a new monastery using stone from demolished Aztec temples—a grand project only completed in the 1570s.

The imposing scale of the priory and its convento was matched by its murals, which covered almost every surface—walls, ceilings, doorways and niches. While some have been lost to time and neglect, a substantial remnant has survived and recently undergone extensive restoration.

The Portería murals 

Although the frescoed lower cloister is the star attraction at Malinalco, which we review in our next post, we begin our exploration of the murals with those in the entry portería.

   Blocked up and thus protected from the elements until recently, this arcaded entry of seven bays, has been newly restored. The vaulting displays a complex, geometrical artesonado design, painted in bright red hues and incorporating medallions displaying Augustinian insignia.

More significantly, the porteria murals immortalize the first seven apostolic Augustinians to arrive in Mexico in 1533. Originally, all seven friars were portrayed on the inner faces of the seven arcade piers, together with their names. 

Fray Agustín de La Coruña

Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz

Only two of these now partial portraits remain; one of them is of Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz, "El Venerable," the leader of the first Augustinian contingent, and the other Fray Agustín de La Coruña, later Bishop of Popayan in Colombia. 

A dated inscription in Spanish describes the arrival of the Augustinians in Mexico and the founding of Malinalco: 

"These are the seven religious who came to preach the gospel in the year 1532, the Emperor Charles V being king and the Pope Clement the 7th and the General of our Order, Fr. Gabriel de Veneto, Provincial of Castile Fr. Francisco de Nieva and the Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza. This convento was founded in the year of 1543."

text and graphics © 2018 & 1992 Richard D. Perry. 

color photography by the author and online sources