Cleveland High School - Beacon Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 25 text:

oyogm, NTO MEXICO, after the conquest, came missionaries, and spread all over the land and into what is now Southern Q California. The Franciscans were the first to offer them- selves for the work, beginning' with three from Flanders, and twelve Apostles of Mexico from Spain. They estab- lished centers of life and teaching, monasteries with gqp-5 churches and workshops, called missions Many are still standing, more or less in ruins. Later on, churches were built in towns and cities. This is a fine one, with its sturdy bell tower and domed roof. The steps, up which millions of men have walked- homesick to hear of the god of the old country, or curious to hear of this strange new god-curve invitingly to shelter the little white shrine at one side. There are odd contrasts, the little shrine is classic in detail, while the round beams' protruding from the wall at the left, are like those in Indian pueblos. The wave-like line at the top of the wall is character- istic. The bells are sometimes hung as in this well proportioned bell tower, and sometimes in belfries on the top of a wall. Spanish architecture was influenced by the Moors and Arabsg and the Moorish dome, often deco- rated with colored tiles, appealed to the Indian artists and builders after the conquest. They adopted it with fervor, and domes are seen everywhere in Mexico. Nearly every church has, besides its own majestic dome, one or more domed chapels closely attached to it. Even in remote places a dome peers over a hill or nestles in a valley, another touch of the Orient in our western world. These churches stand as brave monuments to a group of Spanish friars who determined to convert a nation. Church of Amecameca

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X010101010IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOLOXOIQIOIOIQ1010101019I N' -NZ3 4' . ' . I K016101OYOYOYOYOZOIOIOIOIOZOIOI019101010IOYOYOTOZ010101101016 0007 ooo F YOU were in an airplane over Puebla. you would see plainly 0 -A A ON the courtyards, called patios, without which no Mexican X 1 home is complete. Many buildings have few windows on the outside and the single door leads directly to the patio. ' From the patio you may gain admittance through the bird baths, shrubs, flowers and treesg others are paved and bare or have green things growing in tubs or pots which are moved at need. The large patio in the lower left corner of this picture looks like a basket ball courtg in the original photograph circles and lines seem to show on the pavement. Perhaps this building is a school. How would you like to sit in the balcony under the arches and watch a game? Some of the courtyards are lighted by electric lights 5 there are a few electric signs, and some trolley cars. Not many automobilesg where would they park? Most of the streets are narrow and the sidewalks nar- rower. But the Mexicans, a warm climate people, love the sun far too much to shut it off their streets and gardens and highways, so Puebla has mostly low flat buildings of a rather even height, the level broken here and there by the domes and bell towers of the churches, the tall palms of the patios and by fluttering windmills. The streets of most Mexican towns are quite irregularg but Puebla was built after the conquest and is said to have been laid out by a famous Spanish architect. We do not see in this picture, horse drawn vehicles, or the oxen and burros so common in the villages. In Mexico at one time it was all the old, now it is the old and the new. Will the new prevail? Will the ro- mance of the quaint old places be lost forever? 0 I V O arcades into the interior. Some patios have fountains, Puebla from the Air Q.OQOAOQYAOACLQEJOAOAOQQAOAOAOA4 A A A A A 4. Ao ooo r . . '10 A . .V . ' Q ,, A Al i O 0 oo, Oo