In the 16th century, Spanish missionaries arrived in what is today known as the state of Michoacán, in southwest Mexico, and built a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption in the town of Santa María Huiramangaro.
The church, built according to late-Gothic and early Renaissance style, oversaw the communities of San Juan Tumbio, Zirahuén, and Ajuno. However, about a century after its construction, the church fell into oblivion as a drought led to the progressive abandonment of the town. As a result, the town of Santa María Huiramangaro lost its capital status and hardly anyone entered the imposing wooden doors of the church.
About 10 years ago, archaeologists working for Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) started a restoration project to bring the once-mighty church to its former glory.
In recent months, restorers started cleaning the church’s ceiling, covered in thick white paint with blue motifs. To their surprise, they noticed that below the surface was hidden what looked like a former layer of coating. As they peeled off the white paint, a series of long-lost paintings dating back to the 16th century emerged.
The rediscovered paintings illustrate chapters from the life of Catholic saints such as Paul, Peter, Agatha of Catania, and Catherine of Alexandria, as well as a representation of the Holy Family. As explained at artnet.com, they are rare examples of hagiographic art (art that depicts the lives of saints) in the Michoacán region.
Expert restorer of the INAH Michoacán Center Laura Elena Lelo de Larrea López explained in a press release:
“This project allowed us to recover an extraordinary work on the horizontal roof of the main altar, and to discover the rich artistic, technical and iconographic evolution that has marked this religious site.”
After the surprising find, restorers carefully removed the existing layer of white paint, the result of ill-conceived redecoration efforts in the 1940s, and cleaned the 16th-century paintings to bring their brightness back to their former glory.
Furthermore, the ceiling was cleansed of dust and animal droppings, strengthened with joints and wooden grafts, and treated with fumigation to prevent damage from wood-eating insects.
As explained by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the re-discovery “represent significant progress in the recovery of the religious furnishings of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption.”
Next, the restoration team plans to further search for possible missing paintings under the horizontal ceiling of the church's nave, where for now the original 16th-century decoration remains hidden.
