Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Above: Part of a community art project of Color a Mexico
Sharing snatches of artwork brightening up walls and doorways we encountered while meandering the streets of Morelia. Some of these murals resulted from Morelia’s Festival Internacional del Arte Urbano in 2022. These photos were taken prior to the fall 2023 event, so presumably there is a fresh crop greeting visitors now.
Continue reading “Postcard from Morelia, Mexico: Festival marks walls with color”
Above: Portion of “Morelos y Justicia” mural, Agustin Cardenas Castro, El Antiguo Palacio de Justicia
Inflamed by the fervor of revolt, Jose Maria Morelos dominates the stairwell of the former governmental headquarters for the Spanish city originally known as Vallodolid on the central plaza of his namesake city. In 1812, the building was repurposed to serve as a mint producing copper coins and postage stamps.
A Belgium engineer hired in 1884 to convert the structure into Michoacan’s supreme court added French architectural detailing to the façade and interior. Particularly distinctive are the pinjante arches, floating double arches with no central support columns.
Continue reading “Postcard from Morelia, Mexico: Morelos’ call for justice echoes in this hall”
Above: Portion of “Defenders of National Integrity, Cuauhtemoc and History,” Alfredo Zalce, 1952, Museo Regional Michoacano Nicolas Leon Calderon
A Spanish Baroque house built in the 1700s is home to the Michoacan Regional Museum Dr. Nicolas Leon Calderon. With the oldest artifacts in the museum dating from more than 1000 years BC, the collection chronicles the history of and life in the state of Michoacan until hundreds of years after the dramatic impact of the Spanish Conquest.
Oh, Emperor Maximilian I (1832-1867) is said to have slept here (I believe this a more reliable claim than that of owners of almost every old house in central Virginia boasting “George Washington slept here.”). The home belonged to Francisca Roman de Malo and her husband when Maximilian stayed there in 1864 at the beginning of his brief reign. Francisca served as lady-in-waiting to Empress Carlota (1840-1927).
Continue reading “Postcard from Morelia, Mexico: Crash history course in Michoacan”
Postcards from Barton Springs 