Mixtec Stonecutting Artistry: 16th Century Ribbed Vaults in Mixteca, Mexico
HGA Gallery Rapson Hall, Goldstein Museum of Design, University of Minnesota
89 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN
August 24, 2013 to October 13, 2013

Sixteenth century Mexico was home to buildings of extraordinary construction quality erected for the thousands of people converting to Christianity. Indigenous craftsmen utilized the most sophisticated technology and their profound understanding of locally accessible materials in an intricate system of symbiosis to collaborate with Spanish architects who were experienced with the architecture of the ribbed vault. Employing Mixtecan masonry techniques and European geometry, they collaborated to construct three churches in the Mixteca region of southern Mexico with sophisticated geometrical vaults unique to 16th century America. Through digitally scanning San Pablo Teposcolula, Santa Domingo Yanhuitlán, and San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca, researcher and guest curator Benjamin Ibarra-Sevilla, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design, was able to produce scale replicas of each gothic dome.

Mixtec Stonecutting Artistry: 16th Century Ribbed Vaults in Mixteca, Mexico, on view from August 24 to October 13, 2013, reveals the complex digital scanning, documentation, and three-dimensional modeling that facilitated the research and replication of the rib vaults in the late 20th century.