The Franciscan missions of the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro in Mexico, are five missions built between 1750 and 1760, the foundation of the missions is attributed to Junípero Serra, who also founded the most important missions in California. They were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003.
They are an example of an architectural and stylistic unity with a tempera painting that is one of the best examples of popular New Spain Baroque. According to the criteria to which the UNESCO inscription as a World Heritage Site refers, the missions are testimony to the important exchange of values during the colonization process, both in the center and north of Mexico, and in the west of what currently occupies the territory of the United States.
Region
The Sierra Gorda is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí . The region is on a branch of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range and consists of a series of mountain chains that run north to southeast. Within Querétaro, the ecosystem extends from the center of the state starting in parts of San Joaquín and Cadereyta de Montes municipalities and covering all of the municipalities of Peñamiller, Pinal de Amoles, Jalpan de Serra, Landa de Matamoros and Arroyo Seco, for a total of 250km2 of territory.
All of the Sierra Gorda is marked by very rugged terrain, which includes canyons and steep mountains. Altitudes range from just 300 meters above sea level in the Río Santa María Canyon in Jalpan to 3,100 masl at the Cerro de la Pingüica in Pinal de Amoles. The micro-environments of the region range from conifer forests, oak forests, mostly found on mountain peaks, banana and sugar cane fields in the deeper canyons. On the east side, there are deciduous forests. On the west side, bordering the Mexican Plateau, there are desert and semi desert conditions, with a variety of cactus and arid scrub brush. Among its features are the peaks associated with the Sierra Alta de Hidalgo, the pine forests of Zamorano, the Extorax Canyon and the slopes of the Huazmazonta, the inter-mountain valleys where the five missions are found and the rolling hills leading into La Huasteca. The wide variations of altitude and rainfall favor a wide variety of flora and wildlife.
Foundation
Although the mission of Jalpan was founded in 1750 before Junípero Serra arrived in the region, he is credited with building the five main missions in the area and completing the evangelization of the local population. In reality, the missions were built by the Pame people, under the direction of various Franciscan friars, including José Antonio de Murguía in San Miguel Conca, Juan Crispi in Tilaco, Juan Ramos de Lora in Tancoyol, and Miguel de la Campa de Landa.
However, the vision for the construction of the missions belonged to Serra, as he imagined a kind of utopia based on Franciscan principles, Serra put a firm missionary attitude that consisted in the accompaniment and understanding of its social problems, in the knowledge of their hunger and their language; Serra founded cooperatives, supported and strengthened their organization and production capacities, motivated the distribution of land and imposed doctrinal tasks in the Pame language. It was a missionary task of great dimensions and profound consequences from the human point of view and whose results are today appreciable in the Baroque syncretism that it exhibits in all the missions.
History
Although there had been some city building in this area during the Pre Classic era, with heights between the 6th and 10th centuries, these cities had been abandoned long before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. At this time, the native peoples of the region were nomadic hunter gathers, such as the Pames, Ximpeces Guachichils and Jonaz, generally referred to together as the Chichimecas. In addition, there were also groups of Otomis and Huasteca to be found. The Spanish dominated the far west and the far east of the Sierra Gorda (today in the states of Guanajuato and Hidalgo), but could not dominate the center in what is now Querétaro. This is because the rugged terrain and fierce resistance, especially by the Jonaz.