Religious
orders and lay clergy evangelized the Purepecha plateau during
the 16 th and 17 th century. Relevant work like hospital-towns,
that were unique in the New Spain, was made by the Franciscan
and Augustinian friars with the help of the First Bishop of
Michoacan Don Vasco de Quiroga on their arrival in the 16th
century and complemented the labor of evangelization.
Different from
other regions of the country, the evangelization in Michoacan
was realized with a program of foundation of towns around the
hospital ensembles, giving that way a seal of distinction to
the evangelization. This architectonic ensemble was composed
by the convent or curacy of whose religious congregation the
hospital depended on.
The religious architecture in the purepecha towns was characterized
by the use of “adobe” (sun- dried clay brick) in
the walls, the mixture of mud used as mortar and walls of volcanic
rock with facades of carved pink stone. The constructions were
roofed with thin pine wood known as “tejamanil”
and later on with clay curved roof tile.
The interior coverings
of the roofs are in the way of large inverted “artesas”
formed by planks, with curved designs or trapezoids, called
by the locals and named in the chronicle as “artesonas”;
images like Marianian litanies , angels, archangels and apostles
who ruled the cult of the faithful are represented on the interior
ceilings. These paintings extend along the entire aisle constituting
one if the biggest artistic treasures of the region , complemented
with altar – pieces and images that are taken out of time
and carried, richly ornamented, during the procession of the
patron saint’s feast.
The most representative
of the pictorial art of the “artesones”, is found
in Pomacuaran, Nurio, Cocucho and Zacan.
  
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