The sacred architecture of northern New Mexico – first set.
Santa Rosa to San Rafael on Route 66 in New Mexico
This first set of sacred architecture in New Mexico has us viewing churches on or very close to Route 66 as it crossed New Mexico, east to west, on both the new and pre-1937 alignments. It includes Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The next post will feature high desert churches, including the iconic San Francisco de Asis Mission Church at Ranchos de Taos.
These churches were a special experience to photograph and visit, and I say that as a non-Catholic. They are truly emblematic of the New Mexico aesthetic. They have a serene beauty and (especially at the shrines) are quite moving even to someone not of the Catholic faith.
As with the Oklahoma Dust Bowl set last month, I thought the photos worked best in black and white. I will include a few of these in the remaining New Mexico posts, in color, so you can decide for yourself.
We will start in eastern New Mexico, in Santa Rosa: St Rose of Lima Parish. I tried but I can’t find much about it online.
The second church is in Albuquerque, San Felipe de Neri Church on Old Town Plaza (1793), one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city, followed by a photo from the entrance to the tiny Capilla de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel) also in Old Town Albuquerque.
The two after that are both on the Turquoise Highway en route to Santa Fe: one in the mining ghost town of Golden, San Francisco de Asis Church, and then Nuestra Señora De Las Remedios in another sleepy former mining town, Los Cerillos.
Next, one of my favorites, El Santuario de Guadalupe (The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe) in Santa Fe, built in 1781, situated on the Santa Fe River near the end of the Camino Real. Some call it the crown jewel of Santa Fe’s historic churches. It is now an art and history museum and contains (among other treasures) an oil painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe from 1783 and signed by the renowned Mexican painter Jose de Alzibar. It is said to be the largest painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States.
Immediately following El Santuario de Guadalupe is one photo of First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, the only non-Catholic church in this set – the most unlikely Presbyterian Church I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of them with three children baptized as Presbyterians. According to the church website it was the first Protestant church established in the New Mexico territory (i.e. current states of Arizona and New Mexico). The current Pueblo Revival structure is from 1939 (on the original site).
Four more Santa Fe churches follow:
-San Miguel Mission Church from the early 1600s – the oldest Catholic church in the United States with the oldest church bell, too! The bell on display was cast in Spain in 1356, later brought to Mexico and eventually to Santa Fe in the 17th century. The church was badly damaged in the Pueblo revolt of 1680 but survived.
-The Gothic Revival Loretto Chapel (pictured next), constructed in the 1870s. Its stained glass windows are all from France. It is said to be the first Gothic structure built west of the Mississippi.
-The imposing Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (dedicated in 1886), also with beautiful stained glass from France.
-On the outskirts of Santa Fe along Agua Fria St. (a world away from the bubble which is central Santa Fe) is another 19th century church, San Isidro Catholic Church, dedicated to San Isidro the ploughman, patron saint of farmers and patron saint of crops.
The final three churches in the set are:
-San Jose Mission (1699) in Laguna, within the Pueblo of Laguna, west of Albuquerque. No photography is otherwise allowed within the pueblo but luckily they do allow photography at the mission church. (Several times on my drive in New Mexico the guide called out a church or something else not to miss within a Native American pueblo (reservation) but then I would encounter a complete photography ban on the pueblo which is of course their right, and I do not question it.)
-Charming little St. Josephs’ Church (1920) in San Fidel on Route 66 approaching Grants
-After I turned off Route 66 into the “El Malpais” (“the badlands”) lava flow wilderness and El Malpais National Monument, I photographed this one final mission church in San Rafael, a catholic parish dating back to 1879.
