Ibero-American Monasteries

Antonio Bonet Correa

ISBN: 978-84-95241-19-1

Year: 2001

Pages: 420

Illustrations: 370

Binding: hardcover with dust jacket

Size: 30 x 30 cm

Published by: Madrid, Iberdrola and El Viso Editions

National Award for the best edited art book 2001.

This book, written by Antonio Bonet Correa, offers a fundamental study of monastic architecture in Latin America, focusing on the crucial role played by religious orders—especially mendicant ones—in evangelization and the introduction of Spanish art and culture to the New World. From their monasteries, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians not only carried out their missionary work but also erected architectural complexes of great visual and symbolic impact, enriched with indigenous decorative elements. Bonet Correa analyzes the motivations, context, and architectural aspects of these constructions, including their typologies, ornamental programs, and feminine variations. The work provides an in-depth study of 39 monasteries spread across Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Guatemala, Brazil, and Cuba. Its valuable contribution also lies in the impressive photographic corpus, much of it previously unpublished, that exhaustively documents this heritage, which is underrepresented in art historiography.