No other interior in North America so nearly approaches in vastness and spaciousness the effect of the great European cathedrals, and this not withstanding the wooden floor, the modern altars, the debased grille-work, and the presence of the great organ and of an enclosed choir in the body of the church, so that the entire length can be seen only through one of the lower side-aisles. Twenty tall fluted columns, Gothic in proportion though Doric in detail, separate the nave and aisles, into each of which open seven chapels. The ceilings are vaulted.
This cathedral, which followed a previous church built upon the site of the tcocalli of the Aztec god I nitzilopochtli, was commenced ill 1573, and was dedicated in 1656; the architect was Alonzo Perez Castaiieda. The slender and graceful lantern of the dome is more modern, and is the work of Tolsa. Exclusive of the very thick walls, this monumental pile measures 387 feet from north to south and r77 feet from east to west, and has an interior height of 179 feet. The towers, though they seem low, are over Zoo feet in height.
Church of some respects the great parish church at Chihuahua excels the Cathedral of Mexico. The facade is at once grandly synimetrical and picturesque. It consists of two tall towers, the broad plain bases of which form a background to the richly-adorned centre, which contains the grand portal. This centre has two superposed series of six attached columns with decorated shafts and broken entablatures. These do not appear as "constructed ornamentation," as do the pilasters of a Roman building: they are ornamented constructive parts of a screen of ornament which terminates above in a series of curves forming a sort of pediment to the nave. Three columns flank each side of the broad arch of the entrance, above which opens an octangular window. The ornamentation of the towers does not commence until above the level of the second series of columns of the entrance. From this point the towers rise grandly in three diminishing storeys utterly detached from the rest of the facade. Scrolls mark the transition from storey to storey, and each is pierced with two open arches on each of the sides. To the front of every pier is attached a half-column which runs up into a broken entablature, and each angle of each storey is relieved by a shorter twisted column. The side-portals of this church are also fine. The crossing of nave and transepts is marked by a dome, but this, as is usual in the larger Mexican churches, is inconspicuous beside the great twin-towers of the west front. The disposition of the decorated surfaces in this front is so
good that purity of detail becomes a secondary matter.
The Parochial Church at Lagos is in its outlines similar to that at Chihuahua, but all its details are much more baroque. The central entrance is surrounded by a mass of decoration curved and twisted in every direction—twisted so wildly that the whole almost appears to be a piece of unconstructional Late German Gothic rather than a work of the Renaissance. The entablatures of the successive storeys of the towers also form a series of broken curves.
belfries in the neighborhood of Aguas Calientes are not towers, but consist of a series of arches in a wall. This feature is tol erably frequent in Spain, and occurs in the modest building at St. Augus tine, Florida, which does duty for a cathedral, but it is not common in the South of Mexico. S. Diego at Aguas Calientes has no towers, but carries its bells in series of arches which form two sides of a square. It has three low domes, but the lack of towers destroys grandeur.
The cathedral of Puebla was consecrated in but has since, like most Mexican churches, undergone material changes, including the erec tion of the south tower in the last century. The main entrance bears the date 1664. This cathedral, whose rich interior adornments form an impres sive contrast to the massive severity of the exterior, with its heavy but tresses, seems almost a rival to that of Mexico. It is 323 feet in length by tor feet in width. The interior is injured by the lofty screens which surround the choir, situated, according to Spanish custom, in the centre of the church. The choir arch is very flat, and it is said that the archi tect, fearing it would fall if the centres were removed, fled to parts unknown. The monks burned the centres, and the arch has stood more than two hundred years.
Very few of the cathedrals or churches of Mexico are the work of one generation: like those of Europe, they reflect the architectural history of the nation. Thus, San Francisco at Queretaro, though completed in 169S, was fully restored and enlarged in 1727, and the fine choir was added at the end of the last century. La Concepcion in the City of Mexico, built in the seventeenth century, was renovated in the middle of the present century, and La Enearnaeion in the same city, dedicated in 1648, has been entirely modernized interiorly, and has altars in the Grecian style in vogue during the past century.