A unique jewel
The ancient church of St. Joseph is one of the most beautiful and special vice-regal buildings in Campeche, but it also possesses great historical and cultural significance, since its monastery was the birthplace of education for the youth of Campeche during Colonial times.
According to experts, the building is unique to the region because of the use of Talavera tiles decorating the principal façade and the interior, a simple but lovely example of Baroque architecture in the city.
The front façade of the church of St. Joseph is formed of three sections, one above the other. The first is occupied by a wide doorway with a pentagonal enclosure and stone frame, all within two pairs of columns on pedestals, with Attic bases, fluted shafts and Doric capitals. The second stage has an entablature of the same architectural order as the columns, with an architrave, a frieze, a crest inside a medallion, two columns to either side, and an octagonal window in front of which stands a small statue of the patron saint.
The third level is a pediment with stepped pinnacles. The whole façade is decorated with tiles forming various designs. All together, the style is Plateresque, and reminiscent of Morisco.
The church has a single tower and a single nave. The tower is square, and used to have two stages, like the Cathedral, although only one survives. The nave has a barrel vault ceiling, and joins the transept, above which is a dome resting on a drum, with a lantern on top. On the opposite side to the tower a turret was later constructed to function as the city lighthouse.
The original church, of the same name, was built as a small chapel, possibly in the second half of the 17th century, thanks to alms provided by the guilds of caulkers and waterfront carpenters.
Around 1715 the first Jesuits arrived from Merida, bearing a royal license to found a college for preaching, confessing and teaching doctrine and grammar. The original chapel soon proved insufficient for its new purpose, and so in 1735 father Diego Vélez, the superior, and Antonio Paredes, the coadjutor, began work on the monastery of St. Joseph, using donations from María Ugarte, who gave ten houses; from Ángel Rodríguez de la Gala, who owned Haltunchén hacienda and ranches at Santa Ana and Sihó; and from María Izquierdo, among other residents.
The College of St. Joseph opened its doors on the 4th November 1756. The first rector was Francisco Javier Yanes, and the first subjects taught were grammar, reading, writing and Christian doctrine. By 1766 the Jesuit college had become the most important educational institution in Campeche; there was a superior, a prefect who handled services and spiritual ministry, and a Latin teach responsible for the young men.
The Jesuits converted the small caulkers’ and carpenters’ chapel into a church that became a unique part of Campeche’s colonial skyline, following the Order’s own architectural style, with structural features that distinguished it from the other Catholic churches in the town. However, the work remained unfinished, as in 1767, while Cristóbal de Zayas was governor, the Jesuits were expelled by royal decree from Merida and Campeche. They sailed off to Italy, and the college was closed.
In the early 19th century, faced with the lack of an institution of higher learning, the residents succeeded in having the buildings constructed by the Jesuits handed over to the Franciscans, so that could open a school dedicated to teaching Latin, philosophy and theology.
It was the Franciscans who completed the construction of the dome and the high altar in the church. The Catalan architect Santiago Casteillo finished the hemi-spherical dome over the transept in 1809.
When the provisions of the Cortes de Cádiz regarding religious orders came into effect in Yucatan in 1821, the Franciscans were forced to close the school, but teaching was renewed there two years later when a clerical school was founded.
The institution was named the San Miguel Clerical School, in honor of its benefactors, Josefa de la Fuente and her nephew Miguel de Estrada, a priest. The school kept this name until the mid-19th century, when the state government took control, and converted it into the Instituto Campechano, founded on the 31st December 1859 by decree of the governor Pablo García y Montilla.
As for the church, in 1914 the military authorities imprisoned all the priests living in the city, closed the Catholic churches, and sealed their doors. Three days later, St. Joseph’s was emptied, as it had been earmarked to house the library of the Instituto Campechano, and all the paintings, statues, sculptures and decorations were taken to the Cathedral.
In 1924 the building was returned to the Church, but it was confiscated again in 1934. Finally, in 1941, it was turned over to the State, which installed the Archaeological, Ethnological and Historical Museum there. Today it houses temporary exhibitions. It stands on the corner of 63rd and 10th Streets in the capital city’s Historic Downtown.
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