A witness to our history
One of the crown jewels of Yucatan’s cultural heritage – the Monastery of St Michael Archangel -is to be found in the historic town of Maní. It was the second monastery to be built by the Franciscans outside the capital of what is now Yucatan, and only the third in the Peninsula, after those at Campeche (1546) and Merida. (The Monastery of St. Francis, built in 1547, is now lost.)
In the 16th century, Maní was the second most important settlement after the newly-founded city of Merida. It was the capital of a chiefdom of the same name, whose ruler, Tutul Xiu, was a valuable ally of the Spanish during the final stages of the conquest of Yucatan.
According to the Dictionary of Yucatecan Spanish, the name Mani´, comes from the past tense of the verb máan “to happen”, and thus means “The place where it happened”.
The monastery complex, begun in 1549, was the first major construction entirely built by the Franciscan architect Friar Juan of Merida, using stones taken from Mayan buildings standing there, some of which bear carvings, reliefs and figures that are still visible in the walls of the building.
The compound boasts some of the features which would later appear in other 16th century monasteries, the most important being the Indian Chapel, dating to 1547 and the first to be built in Yucatan, with its annexe roofed with branches that allowed the indigenous population to attend religious services. The monastery also had a hospital and a school, now in ruins, on the south side of the church.
The church itself is dedicated to St. Michael Archangel, Christ’s guardian angel, whose feast day is the 29th of September. The original building was extended during the 18th century, although it is not known whether the features of the main façade were re-used or replaced.
Inside there are some fine murals dating from the 16th century, and others – behind the original altarpieces depicting the Passion of Christ and St.Anthony of Padua – which were painted over the course of the succeeding four hundred years. There are also outstandingly beautiful murals within the chancel dome and in the center of the barrel-vaulted nave. This collection of paintings provides an authentic illustration of the evolution of artistic trends and styles between the 16th and 19th centuries.
On the 12th of July 1562, an event occurred in the atrium of the church which is seared into the history of Mani and Yucatan: Fray Diego de Landa carried out an inquisitorial auto-da-fé, during which, as Justo Sierra O’Reilly records in his book The Indians of Yucatan, a huge bonfire consumed over five thousand idols – representing Mayan gods – as well as ceremonial objects and codices containing part of the history of the Mayan people.
Maní, which was named a Magical Town on 1st December 2020, is the centre of the municipality of the same name, and is located 100 km (62 miles) southeast of Merida, and 16 km (10 miles) east of Ticul.
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