Ex-Convento de Santa María Magdalena, Cuitzeo

Construction of the Augustinian convent at Cuitzeo began in 1550 directly over the remains of a pre-Hispanic Purépecha temple dedicated to the sun, continuing a common colonial pattern of building Christian institutions on the physical foundations of indigenous sacred sites. The house grew into one of the Augustinian order's principal establishments in the Lake Cuitzeo basin, combining a religious headquarters for the surrounding region with a school for training clergy and, in later periods, local students. Its plateresque facade is one of the most elaborate of its type in Michoacán, layering the arms of the Spanish crown with Christian and Augustinian emblems alongside carved motifs drawn from indigenous decorative traditions, evidence of the hybrid workshops that produced most 16th-century church facades in the region. The facade carries an ornamental plaque signed by the Purépecha craftsman Juan Metl, understood to be the only documented instance of a named and signed indigenous artisan's work surviving from early colonial Mexico, making the convent a rare point where an individual maker's identity is preserved rather than lost to anonymous workshop attribution. Inside, the open chapel retains a 16th-century fresco of the Last Judgement and a 17th-century mural depicting a crucified friar, both painted directly onto the plaster in a technique typical of mendicant convents built for indigenous congregations. Restoration work over recent decades has stabilized the frescoes and the facade stonework, and the cloister, atrium and chapel remain open to visitors on a set schedule rather than continuously, reflecting the building's continued partial use by the local parish. The convent is presented as a self-guided walk through atrium, chapel, cloister and upper corridors, with informational panels covering both the Augustinian evangelization program and the Purépecha temple the complex replaced.