The Churrigueresque Style

I recently visited El Paular, a Benedictine Monastary near Madrid.  It is adorned in the Churrigueresque style.

The name Churrigueresque comes from the name Churriguera, a family of Architects and sculptors, though the origins of the style can be traced back to Alonzo Cano,

Ideal Spanish King by Alonzo Cano

Alonso Cano’s opus is the facade of the cathedral of Granada which he designed in 1667.

The Churrigueresque, like the Baroque, often uses a Solomonic column, accented by the composite order, known as the “supreme order”.  However, most characteristic of the Churrigueresque is a flourishing, over abundance of detail and ornament.  Often in the form of stuccoed ceilings.  With it’s origins in Granada and generally the south of Spain, the Moorish influence is undenial.

The Churrigueresque stye followed the Spanish to Latin America.

The Cathedral of Mexico City is a good example.

The Latin American Churrigueresque suggests to me that the designers were perhaps aiming to emulate European styles, but that the hands making these structures were mostlikely native.

If you take this

and add this

you get something like this

and this