the church Santiago Apostle, to Nurío, Michoacán, Devoured by the flames on March 7, had on its roof or basement not only a work of great aesthetic beauty, but also a document on the conception of a theocentric universe, that is, in which God is the center of the Universe, and also had the existence of three types of music: the mundane, associated with the divine; the human, related to the soul, and the instrumentalis, real music, produced by string instruments, wind and human voice. And it was one of the oldest sub-choirs in the country.
This is established by the doctor in History, Antonio Ruiz Caballero, One of the scholars of this church who, after the fire, has established an “almost total” loss, according to the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto, As only the stone walls and the façade of the 17th century church remained. So far, according to local and federal authorities, the rulings continue and the causes have not been established. The insurer Agroasemex made a first inspection, so negotiations have begun.
In this regard, Frausto says that, as can be seen in the images that have circulated on social media, the loss of the sotocoro, which, according to Ruiz Caballero, is one of the oldest in the country, is total.
This is how the temple of Nurío looked before, where settlers celebrate in Santiago Apostle. photo: Social media taking
“The community is working with the INAH. The insurance was already going to do a review. The loss of the murals is total. In a community, when the temples suffer as in the earthquakes of 2017, these properties are meeting points and we must reach a common project with the community, but first they must finish the assessments not only of the specialists, but also of the own inhabitants, “says the official.
In Nurío, the community cries. the photographer Enric Granados, A native of Paracho, based in Morelia, came the day after fires. He was reluctant to allow graphic documentation of the disaster, but especially with residents who deeply regretted its loss.
Art details on the ceiling
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“It’s a very important church, the village festival is in honor of the apostle St. James. I arrived and people were looking at the misfortune, there were commoners trying to put out the flames that were revived. They rescued some images and some banks “There was a lot of sadness, a lot of women were crying,” explains the documentary filmmaker.
And he adds: “It’s a very close-knit community. On the day of the fire they weren’t very open, I had to ask permission. They don’t know why it happened and they’ll have to wait for opinions, but they have two theories: a cuete or by a short circuit in old electrical installations “.
Photo: Courtesy of Irena Medina Sapovalova.
What was it that was lost?
Antonio Ruiz Caballero, professor of scientific research at the National School of Anthropology and History, Author of the research “The music of the universe in a neo-Hispanic sotocoro: music, angels and neoplatonic tradition in the temple of San Jaume Nurío, Michoacán, century XVII”, published in the book Of music and culture in the New Spain and the Mexico independent: witnesses of innovation and survival (Aesthetic Research Institute. UNAM, 2017), explain:
“In Michoacán there are several churches that have these wooden ceilings that are known by different names such as coffers or coffered ceilings, in this case I speak of sotocoro for the place where it was located. In principle, it must be said that they have great aesthetic importance, if we conceive it in a modern sense, its beauty is undeniable, in this sense, it was especially the sotoco of Nurío because in the region most of the coffers that are conserved – and that the architect Manuel González Galván, One of the first scholars of these artifacts, defined them as’ historiated coffered ceilings’-, they tell a story. The vast majority have a bill that we could describe as popular and have the names of the painters, so it is clear to us that they are indigenous painters of the region. “
In the case of Nurío’s sotocoro, he adds, this is not very clear as the name of the painters is not known, but it is believed that it was made “by craftsmen trained in a cultured tradition”. This, however, was not uncommon, as there are references such as altarpieces that were worked on by Creole, Spanish and mestizo artists trained in an academic tradition.
“In Michoacán there are churches with these wooden ceilings known as coffers, I’m talking about sotochoro, undeniable beauty,” Antonio Ruiz Caballero, Historian.
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“Nurío responded to a much more complex visual program, there are very deep visions that come from the Middle Ages and that we can frame in the Neoplatonic conception, that is to say, the recovery and reelaboration of the ideas of the philosopher Plato, In the context of Christianity. There were, above all, two ideas of Neoplatonism that I think are behind this visual program. The first is the conception of a theocentric universe, that is, God is the center of the Universe, and this was clearly represented in the chorus because the first thing we saw when we entered was a golden pendant that had the shape of the sun “, details Ruiz Caballero.
This center, he adds, was surrounded by the hearts of angels. “The angels furthest from the sun were musicians and in the Neoplatonic conception, angels and archangels are those who have a lower hierarchy among angelic figures, so they were the ones who could come into direct contact with humans,” he says. .
The sotochoro also had all three archangels best known, Miquel, Rafael and Gabriel; as well as Mary Magdalene. In addition, it had the portrait of the bishop who is believed to have been the sponsor of the work, Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas. For that reason the church in 1681 can even be dated.
Photo: Courtesy of Irena Medina Sapovalova.
The second Neoplatonic idea, says the historian, is that in this universe there was talk of the existence of three types of music: the mundane, that is, the music of the universe that was produced when the stars moved and generated sounds that the human ear could not hear and therefore associated with the divine; the human, an inner music of the human being, associated with the soul; and instrumentalis, real, concrete music, which human beings could hear and which was produced by string instruments, wind and human voice.
“This is clearly expressed in the visual program of the basement. So in addition to the aesthetic vision, the enigmatic beauty, there is an importance cultural very important. It is really important to see how in a sotocoro of an indigenous population, of the indigenous mountain range of Michoacán, deep theological concepts, of neoplatonic derivation were shaped. Scholars of novohispano art have seen how these conceptions are also behind literary and visual works such as this choir, “says the specialist.
(With information from Antonio Díaz)