Base Camp for the Conquest: Tlaxcala

Some time ago Alejandro, a Mexican Marist working in Rome, was home on holiday. He invited us to visit his family’s ranch. On the way there we stopped off in Tlaxcala, a small city not too far from Mexico City.

On the Plaza - Tlaxcala

What I want to show you are the murals that decorate the Municipal building. Murals are central to modern Mexican Art – the most famous being the murals of Diego Rivera, a socialist whose murals were a social commentary on the Mexico of the time. The murals in Tlaxcala were painted by Desiderio Hernandez Xochitiotzin. 

An overview of the stairway

A depiction of  pre-Conquest religious rites

In contrast to Rivera, Hernandez was a staunch Catholic – one of his sons was ordained a priest and taught Alejandro in the Seminary.

Pre-conquest Aztec foods - including nopales (cactus leaves) and tunas (cactus fruit) left bottom.

Quetzalcoatl - the white, plumed diety. Some historians maintain that Moctezuma thought Quetzalcoatl had arrived in the person of Cortéz

The Conquest of Mexica by Cortéz. The woman standing behind is horse is Malinche - Cortéz's common law wife.

Building began on the Municipality (Palacio de Gobierno - Palace of Government) in 1545. The murals are much more recent! They recount the history of Tlaxcala, the base from which the Spanish began the conquest of Tenochtitlan (the Aztec empire). The murals also recount more modern Mexican history.

The battle for Tenochtitlan - 1521

 The bishop of Tlaxcala, Fray Julian Garces petitioned Pope Paul III for protection for the Indigenous Peoples. The Bull "Sublimis Deus" 1537, defended their rights to freedom, property and respect.

 

1810. The parish priest of Dolores Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla  begins the first Mexican Revolution against the Spanish with the "Cry of Dolores". He is later shot by the Spanish.

   

Tlaxcala also has the dowdiest Cathedral I've ever seen. It's dowdy because it's the original parish church. Some of the conquistadores were god-parents at early baptisms.