Abstract

MARTINEZ GUZMAN, Juan Carlos. A Glimpse into the Conventual Cloister of Actopan Twentieth Century. Estud. hist. mod. contemp. Mex [online]. 2023, n.66, pp.235-255.  Epub Apr 05, 2024. ISSN 0185-2620.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24485004e.2023.66.77828.

Through a photograph preserved at the National Archive of Photography in Pachuca (state of Hidalgo), this work recreates a specific area of the Augustinian convent of Actopan (also in Hidalgo). As it proposes a kind of virtual reconstruction, it also situates, within Mexican time and space, several institutions in charge of creating this kind of photographic images, fundamental for the recording of Mexican heritage, and produced mainly with view cameras. This is a work of hybrid characteristics. On one hand, it contextualizes novo-Hispanic monastic buildings in relation to the different historical stages that they were part of; on the other, it provides the necessary context for a photograph as a primary source. Because the study is closely related to architecture of the viceroyalty, Guillermo Kahlo is mentioned frequently. He is a celebrated individual who allows us to go deeper into the subject of Mexican monument records, a practice which started consolidating from the time of Porfirio Díaz’ presidency. This is a text which combines architectural and photographic heritage. Thus, it concludes with a sequence of images obtained from a visual inspection on site and manipulated on a screen, with the help of specialized computer programs.

Keywords : convents; architecture; cloister; photography; lighting.