From monumental cathedrals to simple parish churches, perhaps as many as 100,000 churches and civic buildings were constructed in Mexico during the viceregal or colonial period (1535-1821). Many of these structures remain today as witnesses to the fruitful blending of Old and New World forms and styles that created an architecture of enduring vitality.

In this profusely illustrated book, Robert J. Mullen provides a much-needed overview of Mexican colonial architecture and its attendant sculpture. Writing with just the right level of detail for students and general readers, he places the architecture in its social and economic context. He shows how buildings in the larger cities remained closer to European designs, while buildings in the pueblos often included prehispanic indigenous elements.

This book grew out of the author's twenty-five-year exploration of Mexico's architectural and sculptural heritage. Combining an enthusiast's love for the subject with a scholar's care for accuracy, it is the perfect introduction to the full range of Mexico's colonial architecture.

The late Robert J. Mullen was Associate Professor of Latin American Art and Architecture at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the author of The Architecture and Sculpture of Oaxaca: 1530s-1980s.

• Preface, Conventions, Acknowledgments
• 1. Overview
• 2. Urban Beginnings
• 3. Sixteenth Century: The Formative Era
• 4. Cathedrals: Symbols of Authority
• 5. Transitional Phase: From the Static to the Dynamic (Mid-Seventeenth to Mid-Eighteenth Century)
• 6. The Age of Fulfillment, 1730-1800: Estípites, "Silver" Churches, Santuarios, Residences
• 7. Frontier Mission Architecture
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index