Coronacion de Santa Maria Guadalupe Church

The Coronación de Santa María de Guadalupe Church dominates the southwest corner of the Parque España in the Colonia Condesa. The newer church was built between 1967 and 1980. It replaced a 1931 church. The bell tower and a small side chapel were preserved. These are in a California-Colonial style in keeping with that found in the park just across the street.

• Belief in Mary as Queen of Heaven received papal sanction from Pope Pius XII in an encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (i.e.; “Queenship of Mary in Heaven“) in 1954. The variation thus honoring Santa María de Guadalupe is specific to Mexico. It shouldn’t be confused with the Canonical Coronation granted to the Virgin of Guadalupe by Pope Leo XIII in 1887.

The 1931 church was built to meet the needs of the quickly growing neighborhood. But even that church was too small by the late 1960s. The project went to architects, José Cándano Montemayor and Jorge Herrera. They got structural advice from the architect and civil engineer, Francisco J. Serrano. He’d just completed the celebrated Guadalupe church in San Rafael, and the acclaimed San Cayetano Sanctuary in Lindavista.

The church today offers one of the most inviting interiors in the area. This is covered by a giant pyramidal structure supported in the middle of each side. That leaves the corners to extend out over the entranceways, and over the smaller side chapel. The main floor is elevated so that access is relies on ramps and stairs. The nave is enormous and pews are concentric and directed towards the center. The interior is somewhat darker than many of the churches of this period.

The side chapel is home to an oil painting of the Coronation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This is by the artist, Isauri G. Cervantes, who’s best remembered for similar works adorning churches in Cholula and Tlaxcala.