Neo-Gothic Architecture in Mexico - A Geographical Vision

Neo-Gothic architecture is a global phenomenon observed in Mexico from the 1850s to the mid-20th century, even with current examples. In Mexico there are more than 500 buildings with some neo-Gothic element: new parishes and churches, large temples, examples of exterior decorations, beautiful sacred furniture and art inside the temples, funerary elements at cemeteries (graves, mausoleums, tombs) and civil buildings (mansions, houses, schools hospitals, porticoes so on. This architecture in Mexico spread in two ways: through architecture teaching academies, but also, thanks to the diffusion of bishops and priests who showed images and engravings for master builders, stonemasons, and other local artisans to copy. Finally, they built these buildings, many times with the support of the parishioners. Also, the economic and political elites built mansions and houses in that style to show their wealth and financial and political power. Something they also did in their tombs and pantheons, since there are many built in that style.
A book on the characteristics, agents and causes of the development of the neo-Gothic style in Mexico is pioneering and the first of its kind. It is a type of architecture extraordinarily little studied in Mexico. A study of these characteristics would be of interest to a sector of the academy interested in the topics of history of architecture, art, studies on religion and culture in general. This book covers a huge gap in knowledge about an architectural style widely spread worldwide and that is widely unknown in Mexico and Latin America and that today is already a cultural heritage to be protected, disseminated, and valued.

List of contents

Neo-gothic architecture in mexico: origins and geography.- the architects, engineers, and manufacturers of the neo-gothic in mexico. Biographies.- The neogothic temples of western mexico.- Visions of the mexican neogothic. The temple of the sacred heart of jesus in leon, guanajuato.- The temple of san josé de arandas, jalisco: an example of the neo-gothic under construction.- The neo-gothic tapatío in its splendor. The expiatory temple of guadalajara.- The virgin of guadalupe sanctuary zamora, michoacán: urban function of a symbol.- Neogothic architecture in aguascalientes.- The neo-gothic in the mexican way.- The neogothic in the religious architecture of zacatecas.- neogothic in the north of mexico.- The neogothic in the haciendas.- neo-gothic style funeral architecture.- Mansions, houses, schools, and porches. The civil neogothic in mexico.- The neo-gothic in contemporary architecture. Examples in mexico.- Architecture in mexico: a heritage to know.

About the author

PhD in Human Geography and BSc in Archaeology from the University of Barcelona. Master's in Business Administration from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He is a tenured professor in the Department of Sociology at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Iztapalapa Unit, in Mexico City since 2010. He is a member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico. From 2018 to 2021, he was a Mercator Fellow in the project Global Gothic: International Gothic Architecture in the 20th and 21st Centuries at the Technische Universität Dresden (Germany). Since 2016, he has been a researcher in the Italian Diaspora in Latin America project at the EdA International Research Center, Rome, Italy. He is the author of over one hundred articles and book chapters. He has authored 11 books, including the most recent: El Palacio Postal de la Ciudad de México. Historia y patrimonio (Bonilla Artigas Editores, 2024); El neogótico en Jalisco. Guía básica para la apreciación del entorno edificado (Arquitónica Editorial, 2021), winner of the Francisco de la Maza Prize for Architectural Heritage Conservation, National Institute of Anthropology and History, 2022; and Adamo Boari (1863-1928). Arquitecto entre América y Europa (Aracne Editrice, 2021). He has coordinated or edited 12 books, including: El neogótico en la arquitectura americana. Historia, restauración, reinterpretaciones y reflexiones (Aracne Roma, 2016); Italianos en México. Arquitectos, ingenieros y artistas entre el siglo XIX y XX (Aracne Editrice, 2019); and Arquitectos y artistas en la diáspora italiana en Latinoamérica. Diplomacia cultural en acción (Aracne Editrice, 2021). His research lines include: Geography of heritage in Mexico; Landscape and its sociocultural construction in Mexico; the history of architecture in Mexico; and the relationships between art and geography.

Summary

Neo-Gothic architecture is a global phenomenon observed in Mexico from the 1850s to the mid-20th century, even with current examples. In Mexico there are more than 500 buildings with some neo-Gothic element: new parishes and churches, large temples, examples of exterior decorations, beautiful sacred furniture and art inside the temples, funerary elements at cemeteries (graves, mausoleums, tombs) and civil buildings (mansions, houses, schools’ hospitals, porticoes so on. This architecture in Mexico spread in two ways: through architecture teaching academies, but also, thanks to the diffusion of bishops and priests who showed images and engravings for master builders, stonemasons, and other local artisans to copy. Finally, they built these buildings, many times with the support of the parishioners. Also, the economic and political elites built mansions and houses in that style to show their wealth and financial and political power. Something they also did in their tombs and pantheons, since there are many built in that style.
A book on the characteristics, agents and causes of the development of the neo-Gothic style in Mexico is pioneering and the first of its kind. It is a type of architecture extraordinarily little studied in Mexico. A study of these characteristics would be of interest to a sector of the academy interested in the topics of history of architecture, art, studies on religion and culture in general. This book covers a huge gap in knowledge about an architectural style widely spread worldwide and that is widely unknown in Mexico and Latin America and that today is already a cultural heritage to be protected, disseminated, and valued.

Product details

• Authors: Martin Checa-Artasu
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.08.2025
• EAN: 9783031895401
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3189540-1
• No. of pages: 386
• Illustrations: XXIV, 386 p. 80 illus., 65 illus. in color.
• Series: Latin American Studies Series; The Latin American Studies Book Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; Kulturwissenschaften, Süd- und Zentralamerika (inklusive Mexiko), Lateinamerika, Architecture, Latin America, Sozialgeographie, auseinandersetzen, Latin American Culture, Social and Cultural Geography, Neo-Gothic architecture, architecture, art, studies on religion and culture, Gothic style in Mexico