| We turned off the main road and went down to the
Templo Las Rosas. This is another baroque building from the 18th century
with masses of finely carved panels. |  |
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The detail is amazing and so sharp despite being over 300 years old. Not the
figure on top.. |
| Quite what he is looking down on I'm not sure. I
suppose he was keeping an eye on the nuns going in and out since it was a
nuns' convent. They moved out later to another building (on the previous
page). |  |
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The detail just amazes me. The skill to produce such panels would be hard to
find today, much less to be able to afford it. |
| This is Don Miguel de Cervantes born in 1547, who
created Don Quixote de la Mancha. |  |
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This adjacent part of the building originally housed the school of Santa
Maria from 1738 to the 19th century. It became a conservatory of music in
1940 and today houses an internationally famous boys' choir of Morelia as
well as the school of music. |
| This is the courtyard of the Palacio Clavijero.
Originally the headquarters of the Jesuit school of San Frasisco Javier
until 1767. the building is one of Morelia's most important. It was built in
the mid 17th century. Later it served as a correctional institution for
priests. In 1824 it became the home of the Michoacán
Congress. Today it is an art gallery! |  |
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The domes next door are from the Biblioteca Publica which was originally the
Church of the Fellowship of Jesus and was built in the mid 17th century. Now
it houses the university library. |
| The Palacio has a dome of its own which is painted
with murals - quite fitting for an art gallery. However they look rather
modern to me. |  |
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Inside was a collection of poster art which did not do much for me although
there were one or two funny ones. |
| One of the downstairs halls had an exhibition of
various forms of native art. Photos were not permitted and the staff were
hawk eyed. But I managed a couple of the south American feather headwear. |  |
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I think the feathers were dyed but they do have some amazingly coloured
birds down there. The staff got uppity when I tried to take a photo of how
to shrink heads (down to golfball size) - and that was just for the words! |
|
A shot of the outside of the library. |  |
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Across the road is the Templo de la Merced. The church was begun in 1604 for
the Order of Mercy although it wasn't finished until 1751. |
| The doors have these incredible figures carved in
them. |  |
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The design is basically very simple but these 'estipite' pilasters are
fairly rare. Such columns are common in interior baroque altar screens but
the size of these, their separation from the main wall, and the fact that
they are outside are most unusual. |
| The interior is neoclassical and features ionic
columns. The dome is supported by pendentives decorated with sculptures of
the apostles and bathes the altar in light. |  |
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And so we returned to the bus terminal on the outskirts of the city. This
was more like an airport with Terminals A, B and C and taxis queuing to
carry you into the city. The tiny combi minibuses stop on the main road
outside. |
| The buses are large and modern and will take you to
any city in Mexico and quite a number in the US. Given that it is 1800 miles
to the border, that is quite some trip. They have their own gas station and
bus washes. |  |
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I think there are 150 stands and several bus companies vying for your
custom. We were sold a ticket on a line which had apparently had scheduling
problems. After we had waited a while they gave us our money back and we
caught a bus just leaving. Different companies leave at different times but
they all seem to charge the same on any given route. |
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