Templo de Santa Prisca, Taxco

The Templo de Santa Prisca de Taxco was built between 1751 and 1758, commissioned and financed almost entirely by José de la Borda, a French-born silver magnate whose Taxco mines made him one of New Spain's wealthiest men. Construction proceeded rapidly under architects Juan Caballero and Diego Durán, producing a Churrigueresque facade carved from pink cantera stone that rises between twin tiled bell towers topped with a blue-and-yellow glazed-tile dome. The interior holds the church's most celebrated feature: a sequence of gilded wood retablos covered in gold leaf, most prominently the main altarpiece behind the altar, along with a sacristy decorated with paintings attributed to Miguel Cabrera, one of the leading painters of 18th-century New Spain. The building is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Mexican Baroque religious architecture, its ornamentation dense with saints, angels, and vegetal carving typical of the Churrigueresque style that spread through silver-wealthy towns of central Mexico. As an active parish church rather than a converted museum, Santa Prisca has been maintained through periodic restoration of its facade stonework and gilded interiors, most recently addressing weathering of the exterior carving, while continuing to hold regular Mass alongside tourist visits. Visitors move through the nave to view the altarpieces and sacristy paintings, with access to some side chapels depending on services in progress.