Santa Veracruz Monastery, Mexico City
The Santa Veracruz Monastery in the historic center of Mexico City is one of the oldest religious establishments in Mexico City and was the third most important church in the area in the 16th century. It was established by a religious brotherhood founded by Hernán Cortés. The parish church was originally built in 1586, but this building was replaced in the 18th century to the one standing today. The former monastery building and hospital now house the Franz Mayer Museum, but the church still maintains its original function. Most of its interior decorations are gone, but it is still home to two important images, the Christ of the Seven Veils and the Virgin of the Remedies (also called La Gachupina). The church is located on the east side of the Plaza of Santa Veracruz, between 2 de Abril and Valeriano Trijillo Streets facing Hidalgo Street and the Alameda Central . The church was significantly damaged by the 2017 Mexico City earthquake, and by two fires in 2020. History Shortly after the Conquest, Hernán Cortés founded the Archicofradía de la Cruz as an act of gratitude for the successful arrival of the Spanish on the American mainland. The Brotherhood was named after the Good Friday of 1519, or Day of the True Cross, when Cortés landed in Veracruz . The original members were conquistadors. Later, memberships were restricted to aristocrats and others with noble titles, but eventually membership was open to anyone with sufficient money and clout. Those who belonged to the organization wore a large red cross on their chest and a crucifix with an image of the Christ of the Seven Veils on two small tablets with the Ten Commandments. The members’ main duty was to accompany prisoners to jail and those condemned to death to the gallows. They also paid the funeral and burial expenses for these prisoners as well. To the common people, this brotherhood was known as the “Knights of the (straw)Mats” as the prisoners were buried in the cheapest way possible. This brotherhood requested lands on which to build a church and hospital. The land they received in 1527 was several blocks on what was then called Tlacopan Street. This location was just west of the original Spanish city and just into the neighborhood of Santa María Cuepopan, which was originally set aside for the indigent. It was next to the Tlaxpana Aqueduct and near the La Mariscala fountain, both of which no longer exist. Originally, a small hermitage was built on the site, in the 1520s, making the church one of the oldest in the region. In 1586, a parish church was built, which would become the third most important in the city by the end of the 16th century. It is said that the church was one of the Chapels of the Stations of the Cross, functioning as Station #7. This set of churches began with the church of the monastery of San Francisco. Other brotherhoods which were headquartered here was the Brotherhood