| The most impressive tequitqui work of this monastery is the huge monolithic baptismal font located in a baptistery next to the open chapel. It is the biggest one in the Americas if not in the World. It means 1.06 mts. of diameter and 1.5 mts. of height. The font has an upper border with the shape of a Franciscan cord followed by a Nahuatl legend. Below the inscription there are four medallions that represent the Annunciation, the flight to Egypt, the struggle between Saint Michael and the Devil, and finally the Baptism of Jesus that shows a beautiful artistic effect in the superimposed undulating lines depicting the water of the river Jordan. Alternating with the medallions, we find a scene of a garden with exuberant flowers and birds. It is thought that this is a syncretic conception of Heaven and where in the Christian version we see the souls of the Blessed represented as birds enjoying a Paradise of flowers. In the Indian version, it is a depiction of the Tonatiuh Ilhuicatl that is the Solar Heaven where the brave warriors that died in the war would accompany the Sun in his daily cycle. After four years, they would return to the earth converted into hummingbirds (symbol of Huitzilopochtli), or other beautiful insects or birds. This masterpiece, a veritable poem in stone, carved by Indian artists, shows us that despite the cultural disruption they suffered, they continued expressing joyful feelings from their soul, still with a language of flowers and songs (poetry). |
