Centro Histórico Temples & Churches

Staring at just a few Centro Histórico Churches, some Mexico City visitors will get the get the urge to want to know them all. That's going to be impractical for anyone besides a few architectural or religious historians.

Nevertheless, the listings below should give you a broad idea, and they may even permit you to visit one or two more. Even if you're simply passing by, you can get an idea of the scope and breadth of Roman Catholicism in the colonial City of Mexico.

Once the default-capital of the Spanish-speaking world, Mexico City shared in the partnership between Madrid and Rome. The Catholic Church was privileged and remained the sole permissible church from the conquest in 1521 until the Reform laws of the late 1850s. Bishops would fill in as Viceroys. The "spiritual conquest" of the indigenous people required the presence of Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, already in the 1520s when Hernan Cortés requested them.

The result is handed down to us today. Mexico City is still a clash of styles carved in stone, and bricks cut from the bellies of volcanoes. It's a unique combination of beliefs, dogmas, and legacies. It's also an important testimony to the heights and depths of European and Colonial thinking.

The list below of Centro Histórico Churches is a work in progress. Many of the churches below have changed hands since the orders built and maintained them over many centuries. Each is a part of the city and each continues to enrich the City's life and complexion.

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