The “visiting” chapels created by the Spanish to evangelize the indigenous Maya populations in the Yucatán region of Mexico are known, collectively, as the Capillas de Indios, or Indian Chapels. (...)
The “visiting” chapels created by the Spanish to evangelize the indigenous Maya populations in the Yucatán region of Mexico are known, collectively, as the Capillas de Indios, or Indian Chapels. Outposts of the principal Spanish missions, hundreds of these chapels were scattered throughout the vast region within small settlements, where a priest would periodically visit and perform mass and other religious rites. The chapels were built from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, and were an innovative synthesis between the typologies of Christian and Maya places of worship. Most chapels had a domed sanctuary between a baptistery and sacristy, a belfry, mural paintings, and an open nave at times covered with a shed made of guano or thatch to function as a point of continuity for the community’s long-standing tradition of outdoor worship.
During the nineteenth century, many of the settlements housing these chapels were abandoned. The structures remained mostly intact until the 1970s when preference for modern materials like concrete led to the demolition of many and insensitive restoration of others. These activities led to the destruction of countless murals and other decorative elements in the buildings.
