Carved Pilaster from Our Lady of Guadalupe

1701-1800

These Spanish church columns portend the culture clash between indigenous people and Spanish missionaries in the Americas. The Spanish were the first Europeans to establish successful towns in the Americas, building missions in Saint Augustine, Florida, in 1565 and Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1609. The Spanish crown attempted to establish dominance over the Native pueblos, igniting tumultuous decades of conflict throughout the seventeenth century.

These columns, originally painted, were created by the Spanish artist Bernardo Miera y Pacheco and made to flank the altar of the Catholic church in Old Zuni Pueblo. They are carved in the Spanish estípe style, smaller at the bottom than at the top and covered with low-relief designs of angels and European flowers.

For their new Catholic church at Zuni Pueblo, indigenous people chose which European religious traditions and styles to incorporate into their own ancient customs. Today, the church walls are painted with large murals of sacred Kachina dancers, and the Christian cross above the altar is decorated with local flora and fauna.