Ex Templo de San Jose

Built by the Jesuits in the 18th century, the former church of San Jose carries the most exuberant facade in Campeche, a wall almost entirely covered in blue and yellow glazed tile framed by twin towers of deliberately unequal height, a design distinct from the plainer limestone facades typical of the city's other colonial churches. One of its towers was fitted in 1864 with the first lighthouse on the Campeche coast, adapting the colonial structure to a new maritime purpose decades after its religious function had already changed. That change followed the expulsion of the Jesuit order from Spanish territories in 1767, after which the building lost its original religious use and passed through a series of secular roles, serving at different times as a school and a warehouse before its restoration for cultural use in the 20th century. Today the former church operates as a cultural centre affiliated with the Universidad Autonoma de Campeche, hosting temporary exhibitions, concerts and other public events inside the restored nave rather than maintaining a permanent museum collection. Restoration work focused on conserving the tiled facade and the two towers, including the lighthouse structure, while adapting the open interior for flexible exhibition and performance use.