Crown of the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe (1965/2009) José Ramírez/Carlos Terrés

Crown of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish designed by Rafael Parra Castillo, José Esteban Ramírez Guareño (1963) & Carlos Terrés (2009)

Carlos Terrés had the honor in 2009 of sculpting the replacement crown for Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, the church that is the main symbol of the city around the world.

After finishing Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish‘s main tower in 1952, the foundation was laid to finally finish the original concept that the priest Rafael Parra Castillo had envisioned in his sketches, which included a crown he designed to rest on top of the tallest tower.

As an important clarification, the crown is NOT a replica of a crown supposedly worn by Carlota in the 19th century; this was posted on the official parish website.

The Crown of the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe

This original concrete crown, built by José Esteban Ramírez Guareño, was placed on top of the church tower in 1965, as noted by the city historian, Carlos Munguía Fregoso.

It remained in place until the Colima earthquake struck the city on October 9th, 1995, when a tremor or earthquake of VII Mercalli intensity was felt in Puerto Vallarta.

The Parish with a broken crown after 1995’s Colima earthquake

Read more about the history and details of the Guadalupe Parish

It took 14 years to rebuild a replacement for the crown, and during that time, a temporary fiberglass version was placed on the tower. As time passed and the temporary crown was exposed to the unforgiving salt, sun, and wind, it started faltering and falling apart. It started losing its shape, weighed down by the material, and its lack of structural stability. It became flatter and flatter each year.

Original Guadalupe Parish crown from an old postcard photo from the mid-Seventies.

Finally, on October 12th, 2009, a new crown—based on the José Esteban Ramírez Guareño design that was sculpted by artist Carlos Terrés (born in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico, October 30th, 1950)—was once again placed on top of the Guadalupe Church tower, bringing back, in all its glory and majesty, the symbol that represents Puerto Vallarta around the world.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish from Hidalgo street in downtown Puerto Vallarta

The crown itself is called “Tecuntlanopeuh”, which translates from Nahualt as “La que tuvo origen en la cumbre de Las Peñas” (The one that was born on the peak of Las Peñas). The original name of Puerto Vallarta was “Las Peñas de Santa María de Guadalupe.” It is 10 meters (31 feet) in diameter and 15.5 meters (48 feet) tall.

The crown was sculpted using a technique and material called “terroca”, which uses a cemented rock composed mainly of zeolite-enriched silicates.

The crown includes a series of symbols and numbers that all have a specific religious meaning.

One of the 8 angels that hold the crown up

There are, for example, eight angels holding the crown up, which actually represents Virgin Mary’s crown; all of them have Marian symbols on their chests.

These eight sides/eight angels, in turn, represent the eight points on her symbolic star.

The 24 jewel boxes around the ring of the crown represent the hours of the day.

The 5 small palm fronds symbolize the mysteries of the Marian Rosary.

The 5 large palm fronds represent important dates in Puerto Vallarta’s history, including the year the town was founded (1851).

The crown is topped with a glass world dome and a cross, like the ones carried by kings and queens.

The crown is located on top of the main tower of the Guadalupe Church, the main church in downtown Puerto Vallarta, one block from the main square (plaza de armas or zócalo) on Hidalgo Street. There is no way to miss it if you wander into town along the Malecon, the seaside promenade.

He was born in the provincial Alteña city of Lagos de Moreno, State of Jalisco, of the Mexican Republic, on October 30th, 1950.

If Guadalajara was the center of important cultural activities, the province and remote city of Lagos was the center of what we can call the “alteño culture”. Cradle of notable poets and writers. Lagos was, after all, a cultured city. Carlos’s parents developed in this environment with two essential values: Constancy, Mr. Alfredo Hernández Terrés, and talent, Mrs. Ma. Magdalena Martín del Campo.

At the age of 13, Carlos Terrés entered the Liceo de Artes, run by Father Miguel Leandro Guerra. The school was founded precisely that year (1963). Five years at the Liceo de Artes in Lagos would be Carlos’ transition from adolescence to youth (1963-1967). A transit of strict and enthusiastic exclusively paternal vigilance, since he lost his mother at an early age. This transition was channelled between traditional schooling (primary-secondary-preparatory) and the classic aesthetic environment, which the teachers in shifts of three months, taught at the High School.

This school was founded by Jorge Navarro H., who was also a teacher and director at the School of Arts of the University of Guadalajara. The Guadalajara Arts School faculty gave classes as visitors at the High School, including Jorge Navarro, notable landscape and muralist; Alfonso de Lara Gallardo, exceptional watercolorist and muralist, extraordinary draftsman; Rafael Zamarripa, notable sculptor, dancer and choreographer; Ricardo Baeza, notable painter; Melitón Salas, sculptor and dancer and Emilio Pulido, sculptor and dancer. More than one of these teachers could see the exceptional skills that the young student showed as a draftsman, and also more than one encouraged him to enter more formal studies, at the School of Arts in Guadalajara, the State Capital. This happened in 1967 and his goal was to study painting and sculpture there. Five years later he finishes his studies.

Carlos Terrés and the Puerto Vallarta Guadalupe Parish Crown

In 1974 he presented a brilliant professional thesis titled “My experiences on the Wall”. This is the end of what we can qualify as the basic learning stage in which the student, like a true sponge, absorbs and soaks up the excellent techniques taught by the best teachers.

Product of the youthful restlessness, which sometimes fools the youngsters to consider a precocious excess of genius, in 1972 Terrés pompously titled an essay with a Latin name: “Vita Brevis”, whose transcendence did not exceed the domestic frontiers. However, this emphasized that the recent graduate is very active within the aesthetic artistic field, and furthermore, that his expressive needs exceed the limited field of action that society and official organizations offer to those searching for art.

In Terrés, the fire of artistic creation has always existed. All his work and events revolve around painting, drawing and sculpture. This is a complicated situation for a recent graduate in the arts, that in our culture are only appreciated by a few “dilettantes”, and many fewer, buyers.

The ability that Terrés demonstrates, in each of his works, is what motivates a number of artists to offer to teach this outstanding disciple. They invite him to their own workshops. An opportunity for him to further deepen the sculptural technique with master Rafael Zamarripa by staying by his side for a year (1967-1968). The opportunity with teacher Jorge Martínez López, a brilliant technician within Jalisco painting for two years (1970-1972). Terrés will discover the mysteries of a refined technique, as well as improve his chromatic sense in terms of the handling and selection of pigments, mainly the technique of acrylates and proxilina in which the teacher Jorge Martínez, is a true magician.

In his development as a painter, Jesús Mata E., put all his trust in Terrés so that he taught painting and sculpture classes at the School sponsored by the Department of Fine Arts of the Government of the State, in the Agua Azul Park, whose director was the painter Miguel Topete.

Jesús Mata E., without a doubt the most remarkable engraver that the School of Plastic Arts produced, told me the following anecdote:

“I proposed to Carlos, seeing his ability as a painter and sculptor, that he teach painting and sculpture classes. Carlos, with all humility, answered my proposal, that he was there to receive teachings and not to impart them. I gave him encouragement. He accepted. ”

Sculptures by Carlos Terrés (José Carlos Hernández Martín del Campo)

During a seven-year period (1971-1977) he was a well-known teacher at that school. His low salary gave him enough stability to marry his disciple Elvia Xóchitl García Valencia.

Three important disciplines helped consolidate the structure of his learning: woodcarving and stewing, which he learnt in the workshop of teacher Trinidad Santos (1975-1976). Another from the master sculptor and restorer Luis Larios, the sculptural technique in recovered marble (1977-1978) and the one received in the workshop of the Italian master Piero Mussi, the technique of casting in bronze with the lost-wax process in Berkeley, California (1994) with which he ends his apprenticeship with teachers, in his own workshop.

These techniques will be valuable to complement the teachings received from the extraordinary and misunderstood painter Francisco Rodríguez (Caracalla) who initiated him within the monumental work and under whose direction he created the two first murals in the School of Plastic Arts: “Figures” (1973) and “Images” (1974).

From now on, he will continue based on his own abilities, his sensitivity and his insatiable expressive need.

Rarer than intelligence, or even genius, is a will that remains absolutely serene and self-possessed: this is something irreplaceable that is not seen more than two or three times a century.
(Jacques Chevalier).

I believe that this definition of the French philosopher fits like a glove, and in a certain way describes the essence of his character, which he underlies in the following anecdote:

Terrés was working on his first monumental high relief sculpture. Earlier, and in the same year (1977), he had done for the S.A.H.O.P. and his first sculpture-painting (10.00 x 3.00 m) was later developed into a 185 m2 facade of the E.S.T.S.E. building, located on the corner of Insurgentes and Gómez Farías, in Mexico City. The grid of iron rods to support the plastic material (recovered marble), was very tall and Terrés worked between its two frames bristling with metal spikes. He accidentally slipped from the top, and as he fell to the ground, his back received significant injuries on the wires and rods.

Terrés was taken to the hospital, where his wounds were sutured. The doctor, after serum and vaccinations, determined that he would have to “stay in bed” for fifteen days. Two hours after the accident, and suffering quite serious pain, Terrés was climbing the scaffolding, complying with the dictates of his unbreakable will, which kept him firm and serene in the face of his circumstances.

Carlos Terrés (José Carlos Hernández Martín del Campo)

His path within plastic arts is very similar to that of the great masters in terms of creative will. Like Picasso and Diego Rivera in painting, like Miguel Angel and Rodin in sculpture, like Daumier and Santiago Hernández in drawing, Terrés has walked in his aesthetic expression, each day more refined, more original and syncretic, always supported by the great quality of drawing that all his work boasts. Terrés draws in the air, starting from the point of view that Art cannot and should not be more than creation.

From very early on in his pictorial work, Terrés knew how to choose the symbolist path, that is, the path closest to confirming it based on the correspondence of forms, truth and beauty that tradition offers us.

Sculptures by Carlos Terrés (José Carlos Hernández Martín del Campo)

Within the creative aspect of Carlos Terrés, it is important to highlight that a large part of his monumental work – one of the most extensive in Mexican art and undoubtedly growing as the years go by – is work executed by request, which establishes serious limitations insofar as, despite what is said to the contrary, the will, the taste and the concepts of ​​​​the person paying will have a very strong influence. This is a limitation to expressive freedom because the inspirations behind the work are shared, and because of this, the praxis of the construction of such inspirations always produces, in one of the parties, disappointment and controversy. Reaching an agreement is a problem.

Crown of the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Puerto Vallarta

With a long artistic career, with brilliant studies in painting at the University of Guadalajara, a researcher in mural techniques, and studies in marble, bronze and wood, Carlos Terrés invents new and unusual challenges day after day. In truth, he does not know rest, because he not only takes his art from one continent to another but also works calmly in his own studio in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico.

With the artist in Terrés, the creator and the professional go hand in hand, always in search of surprising subjects and techniques that, moreover, in recent times, perhaps as a sign of creative maturity, his work oscillates from everyday environments to the transcendence of religious figures. Just as he works on a rocking chair, a wild cat or a totem in a zoo, he offers us the profiles of Emmaus, John Paul II or the Virgin of Peace. He also does not forget Don Quixote, The Mayor of Lagos or “The Windows of History”. Terrés admires small things but never forgets the big ones.

At this point, after so many lessons in life, between the disappointments of sacrifice and the satisfaction of triumph, Carlos Terrés knows very well that there is nothing as attractive as the real thing and that, master of his future, the difficulties of the present are there to stimulate, to fully renew the artist’s inventions. In his hands and in his pupils, in his short-term and long-term projects, he and no one else has the last word.

Written by: IBQ Yazmín Guadalupe González Hermosillo.

Carlos Terrés and the crown before it was placed on the tower

Photos of Carlos Terrés and the Parish Crown

More on the impressive work by Carlos Terrés on his Facebook Page and his website.

Author: M. A. Gallardo