The architecture of Mexico reflects the influences of various cultures, regions, and periods that have shaped the country's history and identity. In the pre-Columbian era, distinct styles emerged that reflected the distinct cultures of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, particularly in the architecture of Mesoamerica. During the colonial era, the region was transformed by successive styles from Europe. With the foremost style during this era being Mexican Baroque.
In 19th century independent Mexico, foreign architectural influence lead to the gradual rise of Eclecticism, particularly during the Porfiriato. After the Mexican Revolution, there was a nationalist movement in the arts that promoted neo-Mesoamerican styles and a revival of Novohispanic styles.
By the mid-20th century, the nationalist architectural styles began to lose popularity as international architecture movements permeated. Nonetheless, architects during this era designed public and private projects that combined functionalism, regionalism, and modernism to create a distinctive Mexican style of architecture. Most notable among these architects was Luis Barragán.
In contemporary Mexico, the rise of globalization has led to the localization of international movements, including Postmodern, New Classical and Neomodern.
Pre-Columbian architecture
Important archaeological finds of the remains of structures built by the indigenous peoples of Mexico have been made in the country. The Mesoamerican civilizations that arose there developed a sophisticated architecture that evolved from simplistic to complex forms; in the north it was manifested in buildings of adobe and stone, the multi-storied housing as seen in Paquimé, and the cave dwellings of the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Monte Albán was long the seat of the dominant political power in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, from the decline of San José Mogote until the demise of the city, which occurred around the 9th century. The native name of this city founded by the Zapotecs in the late Preclassic is still the subject of discussion. According to some sources, the original name was Dani Baá. It is known, however, that the local Mixtec called the city Yuku kúi (Green Hill) in their language.
Like most of the great Mesoamerican cities, Monte Albán was a city with a multi-ethnic population. Throughout its history, the city maintained strong ties to other peoples in Mesoamerica, especially with the Teotihuacans during the early Classic period. The city was abandoned by the social elite and much of the rest of its population at the end of Phase Xoo. However, the ceremonial enclosure that constitutes the complex of the archeological site of Monte Albán was reused by the Mixtec during the Postclassic period. By this time, the Zapotec people's political power was divided among various city-states, including Zaachila, Yagul, Lambityeco and Tehuantepec.
The Maya appear to have founded Lakam Ha about 100 B.C., during the Formative period (2500 B.C. – 300 A.D.), predominantly as a farmers' village favored by the numerous springs and streams nearby. The population of Lakam Ha grew during the Early Classic period (200–600) as it became a full-fledged city; during the Late Classic period (600–900) it was made the capital of the B'akaal ('bone') region in Chiapas and Tabasco. The oldest of the structures that have been discovered were built around the year 600.
B'akaal was an important center of Maya civilization between the 5th and 9th centuries, during which it formed various, shifting alliances, and fought numerous wars with its enemies. On more than one occasion it made an alliance with Tikal, the other great Maya city of the time, to contain the spread of militant Calakmul, also called the "Kingdom of the Serpent". Calakmul won two of these wars, in 599 and 611. B'akaal rulers claimed that their royal lineage originated in the distant past, some even boasting that their genealogy dated to the creation of the world, which in Maya mythology was in the year 3114 B.C. Modern archaeological theories speculate that the first dynasty of their rulers was probably of Olmec ethnicity.
During the Tollan phase, the city reached its greatest extent and population. Some authors estimate the urban area of Tollan-Xicocotitlan at the time was between 5 and 16 km2, with a population of between 16,000 and 55,000 people. During this phase the monumental space that constitutes the Tula archaeological zone was consolidated in two pyramidal bases, two courts for the ballgame and several palaces occupied by the Toltec elite. By this time, Tollan-Xicocotitlan had become not only the nexus of the Mesoamerican commercial networks, it also hosted a military-theocratic elite who imposed their rule in various parts of Mesoamerica, whether by military conquest or political alliance, or by establishing colonies in strategic places.
Teotihuacan was listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1987. Teotihuacan archaeological excavations continue to this day, and have resulted in a gradual increase in the quality and quantity of knowledge of the city's history; even so, such important facts as its original name and the ethnic affiliation of its founders are still unknown. It is known that it was a cosmopolitan place, however, by the documented presence of groups from the Gulf coast or the Central Valleys of Oaxaca.
Located in the modern town of the same name, Tzintzuntzan was the ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Tarascan state capital. Its ruins are situated on a large artificial platform excavated into the Yahuarato hillside, with a commanding view of Lake Pátzcuaro. There, five rounded pyramids called "Yácatas" face the lake. The site has a small archaeological museum.
Puuc style
The Puuc style originated in the hilly region of western Yucatán during the Terminal Classic period. The basic construction method of Puuc buildings is a concrete and rubble core covered in a cut stone veneer. Some distinct architectural details include engaged columns in the facades, boot-shaped stones in construction of corbel vaults, and plain lower facades with mosaic upper facades featuring masks of the rain god Chaac.
The most prominent city built in this style was Uxmal. Other notable sites include Kabah, Labna and Sayil.
The buildings of Chichen Itza show a large number of architectural and iconographic elements that some historians have called Mexicanized. The influence of cultures from central Mexico, mixed with the Puuc style of the upper peninsula, is visible in its Classic Maya architecture. The presence of these elements from the cultures of the Mexican Plateau was conjectured recently to have been a result of a mass migration to, or conquest of, the Maya city by Toltec groups. However, recent studies suggest that they may have been the cultural expression of a prestigious and widespread political system during the Early Postclassic in Mesoamerica.
Oasisamerican architecture
Oasisamerican peoples, residing in what is now northwest Mexico and southwest United States, were architecturally influenced as a result of commercial exchanges with Mesoamerica, leading to a unique style of building construction in the Americas. Architectural details testifying to this exchange include the presence of ball courts and parrot enclosures at Oasisamerican sites.
Paquimé was a prehistoric settlement that had cultural influence in the northwest of the Sierra Madre Occidental, most of modern-day western Chihuahua and some areas of what is now the states of Sonora, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Researchers estimate that the population probably grew to about 3,500 inhabitants, but their linguistic and ethnic affiliation is unknown.
The site is known for its adobe buildings and their "T" form doors. Only a fraction of its total length is fenced and less is excavated. Its buildings have traits of Oasisamerican culture and demonstrate the skill of the Prehispanic architects of the region who designed multifamily adobe houses up to four stories high utilizing wood, reed, and stone as supplementary building materials.
Novohispanic architecture
With the establishment of Spanish rule in Mexico, the first churches and monasteries were built utilizing architectural principles of classical order and the Arabic formalities of Spanish mudéjarismo. Great cathedrals and civic buildings were later built in the Baroque and Mannerist styles, while in rural areas estate manor houses and hacienda buildings incorporated Mozarabic elements. The Mannerist style remained popular for about a hundred years.
The first cathedrals in Mexico were built beginning in 1521 when New Spain was established; from that time onward ever more elaborate structures were built, a prime example being the Mérida Cathedral in Yucatán, built in the Renaissance architectural style and one of the oldest cathedrals in the New World.
Tequitqui
The syncretic Amerindian-Christian mode of architecture developed organically as indigenous people interpreted European architectural and decorative features in the native, pre-Columbian style called tequitqui ('laborer' or 'mason', from Nahuatl).
Organizing local indigenous communities around monastic centers was one of the solutions devised by friars of the mendicant orders in the 16th century to convert the large number of indigenous non-Catholics in New Spain. These were conceived of as fortresses, but based architecturally on the European conventual model, incorporating new features such as the open chapel and atriums with a stone cross at the center; they were characterized by different decorative elements.
Early in the history of the Indian reductions (), the convents became community training centers, so to speak, where the Indians could learn various arts and trades as well as European social customs and the Spanish language, obtain medical treatment, and even hold funerals. These buildings, spread across the central part of what is now Mexico, contain superb examples of the indigenous mastery of architecture and the sculptural arts. Their work, created under the supervision of the Catholic friars, was done in the style, which originated in the architectural stone carving and decorative painting practiced by their ancestors before the Spanish conquest.
Mexican Baroque
The dominant form of art and architecture during most of the colonial period was Baroque. In 1577, Pope Gregory XIII created the Academy of Saint Luke with the purpose of breaking with Renaissance style. Its aim was to use painting and sculpture in and on churches to create iconography to teach and reinforce Church doctrine. In Spain, the first works in Baroque include the Patio of the Kings in El Escorial monastery.Rosas Volume 5, p.2-3.
Spanish Baroque was transplanted to Mexico and developed its own varieties from the late 16th to late 18th centuries.Rosas Volume 4, p. 14. Baroque art and architecture were mostly applied to churches. One reason for this was that in nearly all cities, towns and villages, the church was the center of the community, with streets in a regular pattern leading away from it. This reflected the Church's role as the center of community life. Church design in New Spain tended to follow the rectilinear pattern of squares and cubes, rather than contemporary European churches that favored curves and orbs.Rosas Volume 5, p.6.
The spaces of Mexican Baroque churches tend to be more introverted than their European counterparts, focusing especially on the main altar. The purpose was contemplation and meditation. The rich ornamentation was created to keep attention focused on the central themes. This was especially true of the main altar.Rosas Volume 5, p.7.