A Catholic symbol in a large village
Neighboring the pre-Hispanic cities of Uxmal and Kabah, the Church at Santa Elena rises from the foundations of another Mayan ruin, as a Catholic monument to the blending of two cultures.
Within the bounds of the Puuc Route, the church in the ancient village of Nohcacab (renamed Santa Elena), 96 km (60 miles) south of Merida, dominates the main square.
Standing on land once part of the pre-Colombian lordship of Tutul Xiu, construction of the church began around 1670, and finished in 1779, according to a plaque or inscription on the façade.
Construction of the church, dedicated to the Evangelist St. Matthew, is believed to have been directed by friar Pedro de las Nieves and the master builder and craftsman Alonso May.
The church complex stands on a mound which experts believe formed part of an ancient Mayan structure, and consists of an atrium, the church proper, the sacristy and the priest’s house, with two patios.
The single-nave church is covered by a continuous barrel vault, and the façade features two low belfries, which can be reached by a ramp with stone steps and a masonry stringer or frame that holds the steps.
The church has three entrances: the main one on the west side, and two lateral doors on the north and south. The upper part of the building is finished with seven windows.
Inside this jewel of sacred art the church choir rests on a masonry arch above the main door. Outstanding among the treasures contained here is a fine set of reredoses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The importance of Santa Elena church was noted by foreign explorers such as the American John Lloyd Stephens and the Frenchman Desiré Charnay, who toured this part of the Peninsula in the 19th century.
Stephens, for instance, writes in one of his books that next to the church in Nohcacab there was “a great charnel-house, along the wall of which was a row of skulls. At the top of a pillar forming the abutment of the wall of the staircase was a large vase piled full [of skulls]”. The cross was also adorned with them.
In his account reproduced in the article Living Traditions of Santa Elena, published in the Diario de Yucatan on 23rd January 2014, Charnay writes that the village offered him a glimpse back in time to a Mayan town before the Spanish Conquest.
In August 1980, during maintenance work inside the church, twelve coffins were discovered, containing the mummified bodies of children. Four of these are now displayed in the priest’s house, which has been converted into a small museum.
One theory is that the remains belong to children of German immigrants from a colony established at Santa Elena around 1865.
The village previously called Nohcacab, 15 km (9 miles) southeast of the ancient city of Uxmal, was renamed Santa Elena in 1848, after the independence of Yucatan, and became the head of a municipality in 1918.
According to the Dictionary of Yucatecan Spanish, Nohcacab (Nohkakab) is a Mayan name with two possible meanings. One is “Large stretch of fertile land”, from noh (or noj), big, and kakab, high or good land. The other is “Large village”, from noh and ka’kab, a village or settlement.
To visit Santa Elena church, you should take into account the times of religious services held during the week.
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