San José de Gracia Church at 250
FOR FREQUENT TRAVELERS of the High Road to Taos, the image of San José de Gracia church is stamped into the mind’s eye in two ways. Heading north on NM 76, the road climbs into the isolated mountain…
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Tag: Nuevo Mexico Profundo
Adobe Churches Face Challenges
SUNBAKED BRICKS OF MUD WERE an easy building material for Spanish colonists, who erected churches atop stone foundations and then plastered the walls with more mud—reapplying it when rains washed it…
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A Church Worth Saving
IN 1986, SERVICES AND PARISHIONERS at Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, in Doña Ana, moved to the new Our Lady of Purification, across the parking lot. The new church was larger and held amenities like…
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Master Santeros Save the Sacred
MASTER SANTERO FÉLIX LÓPEZ calls the artworks at San Antonio de Padua Church, in Córdova, where his great-grandparents are buried, “a door to the sacred.” St. Anthony’s, as it’s casually known in the…
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Keeping the Faith for New Mexico's Historic Churches
THE LITTLE CHAPEL IN THE PASTORAL Gallinas River Valley had seen decades of cherished rites before it began to crumble. In 2019, historic preservationists undertook lifesaving actions to firm up San…
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