Compostela Parish Church & Founding Plaza

Compostela's Plaza Principal and its parish church mark one of the earliest Spanish settlements in western Mexico, founded in 1540 by conquistador Cristóbal de Oñate as Espíritu Santo de Compostela, briefly serving as the capital of the Nueva Galicia province before the seat moved to Guadalajara. The town's founding is tied to the broader Spanish push into western Mexico following the Mixtón War, and Compostela's plaza layout, a central church facing a grid of colonial-era streets, follows the standard Spanish town-planning ordinances used across New Spain. The parish church facing the plaza has been rebuilt and modified over the centuries since the original 16th-century foundation, with the current structure reflecting a simpler provincial colonial style rather than an elaborate baroque design, consistent with churches built for smaller regional towns rather than viceregal capitals. The plaza itself remains the civic and social center of Compostela, hosting the town's market, festivals, and municipal buildings alongside the church, much as it did in the colonial period. Historical markers and the general layout of the plaza and surrounding streets preserve the memory of Compostela's brief status as a provincial capital, even though few original 16th-century structures survive intact due to later rebuilding. The site offers a compact, walkable look at one of Nayarit's oldest continuously inhabited Spanish-founded towns, in contrast to the larger and more heavily developed colonial centers elsewhere in Mexico.