PLAZAS

The Wednesday before Easter is the Day of Visitation, when all the people come out to buy flowers and grasses, and go to visit all the churches in the town. On this day I went out before breakfast, in order to take some pictures in the bright early morning light. After a quick tour of the Jardin Union, I headed north to the Plaza del Baratillo, which was filled with vendors selling fruits and vegetables and street food of various kinds, as well as the flowers and grasses that would be used as offerings in the ceremonies of Visitation Day. In the northwest corner of the plaza the road climbs steeply up the hill to the Calle San Jose, which terminates in front of the facade of the church of San Jose.
The church itself is of no great significance, a small, simple structure with a single bay flanked by corner pilasters, and an ancient stone portal topped by a rectangular window in the center. There is a small belfry in the northwest corner with an open pavilion topped by a small brick dome. The facade and detail are executed in plaster and brightly painted in typical Bajio fashion. A sky blue awning is suspended across the street, to give shade to the space in front of the portal. The brightly colored forms and shadows, sharply outlined in the brilliant morning light, gave the scene a lively and vibrant glow that struck my discerning eye immediately.

The Church of Belen is located on Juarez street directly across from the Mercado Hidalgo in the busiest part of the town. There is a small, walled garden courtyard that separates the church from the hustle and bustle of the street, and a simple square bell tower topped by an open pavilion with a brick dome, in the southwest corner of the building. The facade has the typically lavish Mexican Baroque central portal panel, with 3 levels of lavishly detailed pilasters, string courses and sculptural niches containing figures of patrons and saints. Above the portal there is an arched rectangular window on the 2nd level, and a sculptural niche on the 3rd level, all topped by a scalloped cornice culminating in a half shell.

The temple of San Diego is located just west of the Theatro Juarez on the straight southern leg in the southwest corner of the Jardin de la Union and along Avenida Sopena, across from the treelined triangular plaza. Built in the 18th century, the Baroque exterior of the Franciscan church is notable, featuring the typically lavish and Churrigueresque central panel framing a portal with an arched rectangular window on the 2nd level. The full round figure of the patron saint stands in front of the deeply inset window. The richly carved pilasters transform into riotous sculptures in the outer row, and the whole composition reaches a crescendo at the top of the panel, which depicts Christ in judgement, culminating in a semi-circular gable crowned by a half shell motif. There is a single belfry on the northwest corner, and a fine red brick dome with a lantern over the central crossing.
The interior of the church is not that noteworthy, and the religious paintings are not at all well preserved. The space in front of the church descends several steps down from the street to create a small performance arena, where students and local musicians dressed in period costumes, play music and perform theatrical sketches to amuse the crowds on Avenida Sopena and in the Jardin Union.

The Plaza de la Paz is located in the center of the town, at the intersection of the Avenida Juarez and the Calle San Jose, which come together to form a long narrow triangle pointing downhill to the west. The Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guanajuato dominates the upper, or eastern end of the space, set diagonally above the plaza, which contains a low triangular garden with a statue of the virgin. The cathedral is a large structure with 2 unequal towers flanking the southwest facade, a central red brick dome with a lantern over the crossing, and a fine domed sidechapel in the corner to the north. The western tower has 3 levels of arched pavilions, while the eastern tower was not finished, it has only a simple square base and a small pavilion in the southern corner.

The church of San Francisco lies at the end of the Avenida Sopena, about 2 blocks east of the Jardin de la Union, where there is a small side plaza containing 2 trees and a statue of the great Spanish poet Miguel de Cervantes, in whose honor the city holds the annual festival of the Cervantina, consisting of comedy, dance, music and theatrical performances for one week each October. During this time the town is full of aficionados and devotees, students and visitors, and every day there are noisy and colorful demonstrations and parades in the streets.
The church itself is a typically Mexican Baroque structure, with the characteristic ornate portal panel on the facade, framed by 2 identical towers with 2 story arched pavilions topped by small brick domes. The center of the facade is culminated by a cubic pavilion with a large clock, and there is ribbed brick dome with an ornate lantern over the central crossing. The central portal is accessed by a raised porch, and flanked by ornate double pilasters and statuary. The 2nd level has a rectangular window framed by a pyramidal composition of finials, pilasters and figural sculpture. The plain outer walls of the church are finished in pink stucco and trimmed with rust red detailing. In the brilliant early morning light the structure seemed to glow at the end of the dark canyon of the street, and the pink set off nicely against the diaphanous green of the trees.

The Theatro Juarez is the finest theater in town, located on the straight south side of the Jardin de la Union, and just west of the church of San Diego along the Avenida Sopena across from the triangular treelined plaza. Built in 1903 and inaugurated by dictator Porfirio Diaz, the building has a classical porch with 6 monumental columns, topped by bronze statues of dramatic personae. The interior is decorated with a Moorish motif, with the bar and lobby walls and ceilings gleaming with carved wood, stained glass and precious metal finishes. The broad stairway in front of the building serves as seating for the audience attracted by clowns and street comics who perform on the sidealk in front of the theater, often drawing in innocent passersby and sometimes even vehicles, and playing to huge crowds during festival days.

The town is most easily accessed by cars on the subterranean passageways that were built below the narrow, winding surface streets. The local buses from the bus station follow the tunnel through the Ruta al Centro Historico, making stops at most of the important plazas and monuments. The subterranean passageways themselves constructed of greenstone masonry, beautiful and generous arched and vaulted thoroughfares, with intermittent lightwells that illuminate the labyrinthine spaces. They are reminiscent of Catalan or Gothic vaults, or the fabulous architecture of Antonio Gaudi in Spain, and they give the visitor a sense of entering ancient and mysterious worlds.
As is typical throughout the Bajio region, most buildings are covered in plaster which has to be refinished periodically, and is often painted in bright and lively colors. In Guanajuato the simple cubic structures ascend the steeply sloping walls of the ravine, and tumble down in bright and colorful geometric compositions that are reminiscent of the lively and colorful townscapes of the Mediterranean area, as seen in the vernacular architecture of Greece, Italy and Spain.

The Jardin de la Union is the cultural, social and spiritual center of Guanajuato, and it is clearly one of the finest and loveliest plazas in all of Mexico. The space is located on the north side of the Avenida Sopena in the eastern part of the town, and forms a medium sized triangle pointing to the north, with straight east and south sides, and a gently curving western side lined with stately facades. The plaza is lined with ficus trees that create a densely packed mass of branches and foliage that delimit and shade the space closely overhead, and define a lush garden with fountains and a bandstand in the center of the triangle. This is the Zocalo of Guanajuato, and it is surrounded by the finest cafes, hotels, shops and restaurants, as well as a number of churches and theaters. It is the center of life in the town, it's most elegant and vibrant salon, and favorite haunt of itinerant musicians and mariachi bands that play for the guests.

When I arrived in Guanajuato during holy week, it was difficult to find a room because there were so many visitors. Luckily I met a nice British girl at the bus station, and she was going to the Casa Kloster, one of the oldest youth hostels in the city. I was able to find a room there, and it turned out to be quite a nice place, right in the center of town, and it also turned out to be quite inexpensive.
From the front door of the Casa Kloster on the Calle Alonso, a steep and narrow alleyway led 1 block north to the middle of the Plaza de la Paz, which can be seen in the slot of space in the center of the picture. One day I was walking down this alley and saw 2 lovely girls standing at the corner and wondered who they were waiting for. Then I saw them go into a bar down ther street. I quickly went to get my friend George, and we proceeded to follow them into the bar. As it happened they were very nice girls from Aguascalientes, famous for the beauty of it's women, and we talked for a while and then accompanied them to a local Karaoke club on the Plaza de la Paz. Later we lost sight of them and then they dissappeared, apparently they were a little scared of us.