Cristóbal de Medina Vargas

Cristóbal de Medina Vargas Machuca (1635-1699) was one of the first truly great architects born and raised in Mexico City. Not many of his works remain, but what you can see are truly astounding. He's long been considered one of the greats of the New Spanish Baroque, a style that lent tremendous color and form to Colonial Mexico and especially Mexico City.

Medina Vargas is probably best remembered for his signature use of Solomonic columns and cushions. As the designer of the Monuments along the Calzada de los Misterios, he's among the least well-recognized. These monuments were created between 1675 and 1676. Many were restored in 1999.

Among the lost works of Medina Vargas, the Santa Fe Aqueduct is probably the most tragic. The waterway ran for most of the Calzada de Mexico-Tacuba and ended with a cistern at the corner of the corner of Avenida Hidalgo and Eje Central, at the rear of today's Palacio de Bellas Artes.

The listings below include some of his most prominent Mexico City projects.

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