North America Mexico

 Cuilapan

Dominican church

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A brief description of prory and church of Cuilapan.

The priory and church of Cuilapan was founded by Dominicans during the second half of the sixteen-century (1530-1535).  Domingo de Aguiñaga, O.P., the prior of  Santo Domingo de Oaxaca, was also the founder of Cuilapan.  He gave impetus for the arduous first decade of building and was succeeded in 1559 by Bernardo de Alberquerque, O.P. The first to build the convent was the Portuguese master mason Antonio de Barbosa, later substituted by Agustin Salazar, to whom most of the assembly is owed. The construction was suspended for The Royal Hearing, due to its location within the lands of the Marquis del Valle of Oaxaca. In 1580 the work abruptly halted and the great church remains unfinished to this day.

From the cloister, it is possible to access the southern courtyard, a space that corresponded to the convent garden. In this patio is a monument in honour of General Vicente Guerrero, hero of the Mexican Independence, that commemorates and indicates the place where he was executed on February 14, 1831, after being held prisoner in the capitulatory room of the cloister, where there is an oil painting of the insurgent hero.
 

Philately

Ruins of the Basilica in Cuilapan. 

Mexico 1980, Mi 1726, Sc 1213.  

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