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03 · Renaissance, Baroque & Rococo

Churrigueresque

c. 1680–1780

Carved stone portals and altarpieces covered in ornament, framed by estipites, tapering pilasters wider at the top than the base.

Look for

Carved stone relief Pilaster Bell tower
Church of Santa Prisca de Taxco, Taxco, Mexico: an example of Churrigueresque architecture
Church of Santa Prisca de Taxco, Taxco, Mexico. Photo: Mario guerrero ledesma 1, CC BY-SA 3.0
Plaza Mayor, Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Plaza Mayor, Salamanca Salamanca, Spain · muffinn from Worcester, UK, CC BY 2.0
Cathedral Basilica of Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico
Cathedral Basilica of Zacatecas Zacatecas, Mexico · Jvitela, CC BY-SA 4.0
Metropolitan Tabernacle (Sagrario Metropolitano), Mexico City, Mexico
Metropolitan Tabernacle (Sagrario Metropolitano) Mexico City, Mexico · Ulisesmorales, CC BY-SA 3.0
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral Mexico City, Mexico · ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY-SA 4.0

what it is

Churrigueresque is the Spanish and Spanish American style of about 1680-1780 in which carved ornament covers the portal or the altarpiece. Its characteristic support is the estipite, a pilaster that tapers downward, wider at the top than at the base, and is often built from stacked blocks and carved sections. Doorways and retablos (the carved altarpieces behind church altars) are framed by estipites and filled with niches for saints, shells, garlands and fruit, and the wall around them is often left plain.

In Mexico, Santa Prisca in Taxco (1751-1759) has a carved stone portal between two tall bell towers, and Lorenzo Rodríguez built the Metropolitan Tabernacle beside Mexico City's cathedral in 1749-1760. In Spain, Salamanca's Plaza Mayor (1729-1755) was designed by members of the Churriguera family. Baroque facades of Italy and France are organized by columns with classical bases and capitals; Churrigueresque portals replace these with estipites and spread carving across the whole surface.

how to spot one

Carved stone relief Figures or patterns carved into stone so they project from a flat background, called low relief when shallow and high relief when deep. It appears on ancient temples and Gothic churches. Pilaster A flat column projecting slightly from a wall, with the same base, shaft and capital (decorated top) as a freestanding column. It is usually decorative and is common on Renaissance, Georgian and Neoclassical buildings. Bell tower A tall tower that holds bells or a clock, rising from or beside a church or public building. The open stage near the top where the bells hang is the belfry, and a freestanding bell tower is called a campanile.

Also look for

DomeRound archArcadeSymmetrical facade

history

The style takes its name from José Benito de Churriguera (1665-1725), a Madrid-born architect and sculptor whose family worked mainly in Salamanca, Madrid and Valladolid. He designed altarpieces using estipites, including the Sagrario chapel of Segovia Cathedral (1690) and the retablo of the Convento de San Esteban in Salamanca (1693). Its roots are traced to Alonso Cano's 1667 facade of Granada Cathedral.

Alberto Churriguera and his nephew Manuel de Larra Churriguera built Salamanca's Plaza Mayor in two phases, 1729-1735 and 1750-1755. In the 18th century the style reached New Spain, where it is called Mexican Churrigueresque. Zacatecas Cathedral was built in 1731-1752, and Santa Prisca in Taxco in 1751-1759, paid for by the silver mine owner José de la Borda. From about 1760 the style moved toward neoclassical balance, and the Academia de San Fernando and neoclassical taste had displaced it by about 1780.

where to find it

Salamanca and other Castilian cities, and central and southern Mexico: Santa Prisca in Taxco, the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Mexico City and Zacatecas Cathedral.

easy to confuse with

St Peter's Basilica, an example of Baroque Baroque Theatrical classicism: curved facades, giant columns rising through several stories, and dramatic staged light. Mission San Xavier del Bac, an example of Spanish Colonial Spanish Colonial White stucco walls, red clay tile roofs, arcades, courtyards, and wrought iron grilles. Palais Garnier, an example of Baroque Revival Baroque Revival The 1800s turning the volume up: domes, paired columns, sculpture crowding the roofline, and staircases built for grand entrances.