El Sanctuario Story
Santuario wall with Apple tree
New Mexico, Arizona
The concept of Sanctuary is not new with the modern Human species. There have always been areas, specific locations, natural geologic features, human built structures that have been considered ‘Sanctuary’, or ‘A sanctuary’. A place of solitude, peace, spiritual connection, safety.
I have photographed many of these places, sometimes not knowing the deeper meaning behind what I was capturing. I was just interested in structures and shadow and light.
Ancient peoples and the intersection of modern peoples have shown me places that I felt at peace, felt safe, felt the history of this connection. The ancient landscape of New Mexico, the indigenous people that still live there and the places that were created by modern humans, all are found here and have a place here.
This image was taken of an early 1600’s adobe wall wrapped around a Hispanic Catholic Church
‘a Santuario’. The tree is a ‘New Mexican’ apple tree. The light, the spreading tree, the texture of the adobe wall and the feeling of this quiet, safe space attracted me.
The Spanish moved through central America and what is now Mexico and New Mexico in the 1500’s. The first Spanish settlement in New Mexico was July 11, 1598. The Spanish Governor, at that time, named the settlement San Juan de los Caballeros. These first Spanish people brought seeds of every kind to the New World, including the apple. Those apple seeds were of a European origin. They freely reseeded themselves in the acequias and sanctario of those newly formed Church grounds. Very often fruit trees were planted in the confines of the Santuario, for protection and ease of care.
Most Apple trees currently found and used in these old Hispanic, New Mexican churches are of that original genetic European apple seed stock. They are small, very unique tasting apples, that really have no comparison. These apple trees are now grown throughout Northern New Mexico small orchards and can sometimes be found in the Santa Fe Farmers Market.
BORDER CHURCH SANTUARIO
NEW MEXICO
This image was found in the Sanctuario of a Hispanic Church that is very close to the modern border of Mexico and US. I spent quite a bit of time here - the silence, stillness in the heat of the edifice gave me a sense of safety and peace. The incredible feeling of the human history of the Southwest, coupled with the absolutely unique ecosystem of the location- its flora, fauna, water and region.
The light of the day spread throughout each window, forming shadows and light that accentuated the frescos and unique Spanish Tudor windows.
The church was built in early 1800 by the Spanish military and Native people. It one of the few surviving functional Spanish churches from this early era of Spanish dominance in the Southwest. This church’s grounds and Santuario are close to the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the "Royal Road of the Interior".
Most of these Churches and the resulting towns are close to or on El Camino Real. This Spanish road is the earliest Euro-American trade route on the North American continent. It linked Spain's colonial capital of Mexico City to its northern frontier in New Mexico, during the Spanish expansion of the southwest. This historic ‘by-way’, built in the 1600’s, spans three centuries, two countries, and almost 1,800 miles.
SAGUARO DOOR, EL SANTUARIO
NEW MEXICO
It seems that in each of the early Hispanic churches, in New Mexico and Mexico, there is a place of peace for meditation or prayer, tucked away from the main edifice, rooms and people.
There are stories of healing dirt, visiting spirits, family reconnections.
Perhaps it is the extraordinary light, the shadows made by adobe and cactus rib, the blank walls textured by mud and straw.
The feeling of peace is certainly real. The connections with textures and light and shadow …..and the old spirits, make one want to spend significant time there.
This image was captured at the end of day in a corner of the santuario. The church was along the broken road of El Camino de Real, very near the border of Mexico and the United States.
All images Taken by Contax RTS, 50mm 1.4, Tri-X film
