Nuestra Señora de la Merced Church, Col. Espartaco

Photo: Catedrales e Iglesias/Cathedrals and Churches, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

The Nuestra Señora de la Merced Church is a historically significant Modernist church in the Coapa Area. The Espartaco neighborhood surrounding the church developed in the 1960s just east of the Registro Federal stop on the Xochimilco Light Rail. Today it’s not often visited by outsiders,

Somewhat unusually, the architect has never been definitively identified. This is because the work appears to have been a collaboration between Honorato Carrasco Navarrete and his son. Navarette’s better known works are the Church of the Divine Providence in Del Valle. Even closer, though, is the dramatic Chapel of the Seminario Menor in Huipulco.

The Order of the Augustinian Recollect run this parish as well as that of Santa Monica in the Colonia del Valle Tlacoquemécatl. The building is rectangular with the façade on C. 5 and the lateral façade along the main avenues. The altar thus faces the east. The façade has three openings beneath the triangular niches.

But people visit for the interior. The single longitudinal nave is covered by eight concrete folds inverted “v.” Illumination comes especially from the succession of triangular windows along the side walls and resulting from the folds of the roof.

Those walking will find it easier to arrive from the Nezahualpilli station. This walk can include stops at the equally interesting San Pablo Tepetlapa and the Mercado Prados de Coyoacán