Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, is located in the mountains 200 miles west of Mexico City at an elevation of 7200 feet. Michoacan is part of what is referred to as the Colonial Circlde of Mexico, the area of greatest concentrated colonial settlement and development during the Spanish Colonial Period. Most of what is now the state of M
ichoacan was controled by the Purhepecha Indian Impire, which numbered an estimated 3,000,000 members at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Even today there are still 130,000 Purhepecha Indian People that still speak the Purhepecha language.
Although the Purhepecha language and cultural traditions are strongly represented throughout Michoacan, the only affect we see in building design details is the representation of Purhepecha motifs in some of the wood carving on doors and occacionally in carved stone relief in some of the churches. What we find is traditional designs from Spain and Mexican designs that have occured since the conquest.
