Colonial contradictions in the Casa de Montejo in Merida, Yucatan: Space, society, and self-representation at the edge of Viceregal Mexico

This dissertation focuses on the Casa de Montejo (c. 1542-1549), its residents, those who came in contact with the building on the local level of Merida, Yucatan, and those who confronted what it represented in the larger colonial context in which it existed. The casa, commissioned by the first Spanish adelantado or governor/captain general of the Yucatan, Francisco de Montejo, remains one of the most famous Spanish colonial palaces because it retains its original facade, the most ornate residential facade extant in Mexico and perhaps all of Latin America. To date, scholars studying the building have shared one opinion: the facade emphatically claims the Spanish conquest of the Yucatan and its Mayan peoples. Although this reading has merit, analyses of the casa have not examined the structure in terms of the complexity of the colonial situation. As I argue, the facade's intention was not only to represent conquest of the Mayan peoples, but also to promote at least three other agendas. The first, informed by the Montejo family's European roots and drawing on conventions of Spanish palace decoration, asserted an elevated status for the patrons through various forms of self-representation. The second affirmed local governing privileges that challenged the emerging powers of the new administrations overseeing Spanish America, which were rendering the position of adelantado obsolete and, thus, represented a threat to Montejo's political standing. The third objective concerned the assertion of the patrons' authority over the multi-ethnic Yucatecan audience that came into daily contact with the building, an audience largely unfamiliar with European architectural conventions and habits of reception. Finally, moving beyond intentionality, I emphasize the importance of considering that the Montejo facade was not only conceived but also carved in a multi-faceted socio-political environment, executed in large part by skilled laborers drawn from the local populations whose understanding of the decorative forms they were to reproduce were informed by local traditions. Therefore, the meaning of the facade cannot be assessed from one view point. This dissertation, then, focuses on the production of meaning in the reception of the facade, in the complex context of mid-sixteenth century Viceregal Mexico.