Parroquia de la Asunción de María

The church and former convent of the Asunción de María dominates the centre of Yautepec de Zaragoza, a city of 44,353 people (2020 census) at 1,212 metres above sea level. The Dominicans built it in the 16th century. Sources disagree on the date: an academic study puts the start of works in 1552, and a tourism guide says 1567; the complex has been altered several times since.

What you notice first from the street is the big bell tower. Inside, the nave has three side chapels, one with a Baroque altarpiece, and the vaults carry geometric decoration with the arms of the Dominican order. The barrel-vaulted cloister has murals with strong Mudéjar influence: you can pick out Saint Dominic, Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Jerome, and on the ground floor Saint Antoninus of Florence, Saint Elmo and Pope Benedict XI, a Dominican. UNAM researcher Ligia Fernández Flores links some of the paintings to Sebastiano Serlio's treatise and notes they have not been studied in depth.

Another study, by Rodolfo Abarca Díaz, argues that the convent was not built over the town's pre-Hispanic teocalli, which was unusual in the 16th century. The parish is still in use, with regular Masses, and the convent shares its block with the daily life of the square. The address is Virginia Fábregas 77, Centro. A few streets away is the church of Santiago Apóstol and, according to a local guide, an 18th-century chapel in the Santiago neighbourhood.