Ancient origins of the Mexican plaza : from primordial sea to public space / Logan Wagner, Hal Box, Susan Kline Morehead

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-243) and index.

Machine generated contents note: Authors' Note -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter One. The Primordial Sea: Forming Open Space in Mesoamerica -- Mesoamerican Concept of Space -- Mountains and Altepetls -- Caves, Quatrefoils, and Sunken Courts -- Types of Open Space in Mesoamerica -- Triad Centering * U-shaped Courts * Quadrangles -- Quincunx: Symbol of the Cosmos -- Ballcourts -- The Sunken Court of Teopantecuanitlan -- The Dallas Plaque: A Cosmogram -- Chapter Two. Forming Spanish Towns in Mesoamerican Culture -- People and Ideas -- The Invasion -- The Europeans Making Contact -- European Plazas in the Early Sixteenth Century -- Origins of the Plaza -- Building New World Towns -- Types of Towns * First Acts and Encounters -- Laws of the Indies -- Conversion -- Quincunx Patios -- Relaciones Geograficas -- Chapter Three. Sixteenth-Century Communal Open Spaces (Five Hundred Years Later) -- Caves and Crevices -- Amecameca, State of Mexico * Zoquizoquipan, Hidalgo * Valladolid, Yucatan -- Quincunxial Arrangements -- Atlatlahuacan, Morelos * Huejotzingo, Puebla * Huaquechula, Puebla * Zacualpan de Amilpas, Morelos -- Terraced Mountains -- Molango, Hidalgo * Achiutla, Oaxaca * Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca -- Sunken Courts -- Tepoztlan, Morelos * Tochimilco, Puebla * Calpan, Puebla -- Ballcourts and Bullrings -- Villa Díaz Ordaz, Oaxaca * Tlanalapa, Hidalgo * Tepeapulco, Hidalgo -- Open Space Ensembles -- Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca * Tlacolula, Oaxaca * Otumba de Gomez Farías, State of Mexico * Tlacochahuaya, Oaxaca * Tepeaca, Puebla * Etla, Oaxaca -- Bishop Quiroga's Utopias in Michoacan -- Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan * Patzcuaro, Michoacan * Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacan * Erongarícuaro, Michoacan * Angahuan, Michoacan -- Visible Overlays and Deliberate Alignments -- Mitla, Oaxaca * Hacienda Xaaga, Oaxaca * Teposcolula, Oaxaca * Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca * Epazoyucan, Hidalgo -- The Yucatan Experience -- Yotholín, Yucatan * Tibolon, Yucatan * Izamal, Yucatan -- Chapter Four. Origins and Evolution -- Epilogue: Plazas in the Twenty-first Century -- The San Miguel Example -- Qualities of Successful Plazas -- Sprawl and the American Myth -- Appendix. Measured Drawings: Plans of Towns -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.

The plaza has been a defining feature of Mexican urban architecture and culture for at least 4,000 years. Ancient Mesoamericans conducted most of their communal life in outdoor public spaces, and today the plaza is still the public living room in every Mexican neighborhood, town, and city - the place where friends meet, news is shared, and personal and communal rituals and celebrations happen. The site of a community's most important architecture - church, government buildings, and marketplace - the plaza is both sacred and secular space and thus the very heart of the community.. This extensively illustrated book traces the evolution of the Mexican plaza from Mesoamerican sacred space to modern public gathering place.

English