Travelers can occasionally find rare and valuable objects at these shops. The bills of the national monte de piedad circulate at par throughout the country.
XLIX.
The Church.
Up to the year 1859 one third of all the real and personal property in Mexico was owned by the Church. Many of the finest buildings, as well as large tracts of land in the heart of the large cities, belonged to the clergy.
The bishops' palaces at Puebla and at the capital contain so many deeds, leases, etc., that they remind one of a county clerk's office, rather than the residence of a high ecclesiastical dignitary.
All churches and convents in Mexico are built of the most costly materials and in the most substantial manner. Lofty towers are usually added to the churches, and their façades are oftentimes exquisitely carved. (See chapter on architecture.) The interior decorations, paintings, furniture, and the services, are artistic in character. They were imported from Europe and transported by wagons for distances varying from one hundred to six hundred miles at great expense.
The high altars as well as the stalls of the choir are beautifully carved, the former being usually gilded. Large organs are found in the cathedrals and principal churches, and occasionally the same building will have two of them on opposite sides of the choir. In the Morelia[1] and Guadalupe cathedrals, there are silver railings around the edge of the high altar and leading thence to the choir. Many of
- ↑ The silver railing at Morelia was removed by the Liberal party during the Reformation.
