Dolores Hildalgo - Part 1

  On a Saturday, I go with my friends from school, Bob and Lori, to the nearby town of Dolores Hildalgo.  The bus ride to the northern city takes about 45 minutes and the bus has great reclining seats, air-conditioning, and even a few monitors showing a movie.  Hardly the hot, dusty, rickety buses often evoked in tales of Mexican travel.  

   Knowing a little about Mexican history can be helpful when visiting Dolores Hildalgo, since it's considered the 'Cradle of National Independence.'  Here's a couple interesting facts:

     -  It was in front of his parish church that Miguel Hildalgo, in 1810, uttered his cry for independence (Grito de Dolores).  This was the beginning of Mexico's fight for independence from Spain which would continue until 1821, when Mexico became an independent nation. 

     -  Initially, the town was called simply Dolores, but was later renamed Dolores Hildalgo in Father Hildalgo's honor.

   There's a lot to see in Dolores Hildalgo and we only had part of one day.  Our first visit upon arriving (and object of this post) is the historic parish church.

Bob and Lori outside Dolores Hildalgo's Baroque parish church, built in 1768 and highly decorated in carved rose granite.

Here's a closer detail of the carved facade.

The central altar of the church, Mexican Baroque with its vertical columns.

Gilded altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the ever-present icon of Catholic Mexico.

This altarpiece is spectacular!  Completely carved wood from floor to ceiling.

A closer look at details

Another side altar with Corinthian columns

A side altar in the process of having its gold leaf restored.  This is a painstaking job requiring skill and patience.  The gold leaf, very thin and wrinkly, has to be laid on and glued on the stone, then rolled and polished to a high sheen.

A statue of Miguel Hildalgo was erected in 1891 and stands in the center of the town plaza.