The Monasteries of Popocatépetl

In the decades after the conquest, Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian friars built a series of monasteries on the flanks of Popocatépetl, and because they were working with vast numbers of new converts and very little precedent they invented a form: a fortress-like church with a huge walled atrium in front of it, open chapels so mass could be said to a crowd outdoors, and corner chapels for processions. Fourteen of these were listed together by UNESCO in 1994 as the model that missionary architecture across the Americas followed. Several keep sixteenth-century wall paintings in black and red. Tepoztlán, Cuernavaca, Huejotzingo and Atlatlahucan are among the most rewarding.

What you actually see

• The walled atriums - vast open forecourts built for outdoor mass.
• Open chapels - arched stages facing the crowd rather than an interior.
• Sixteenth-century murals - black and red wall painting inside several.
• Huejotzingo and Atlatlahucan - two of the best preserved of the fourteen.

When to go

October to May is dry and best for driving between them. The fourteen are spread across two states and no one visits all of them; three or four in a day is realistic. Some keep short or irregular hours and are locked outside mass times, so morning is safer.

Honest expectations

These are working parish churches, not museums, and access to the more interesting interiors is unpredictable; a caretaker with a key may or may not be there. Signage is minimal and mostly in Spanish. Earthquakes in 2017 damaged several and restoration work is ongoing, so some may be partly closed.

Nearby

Cuernavaca and Tepoztlán are the easiest bases; Puebla is on the eastern side.