RECOVERING LOST CULTURAL HERITAGE PLACES OF MEXICO. THE CASE OF THE TEMPLE OF JESUS MARIA – MASONIC LODGE OF MERIDA

Abstract. This paper offers, based on the integration of different documentary universes and the extraction of the few physical vestiges, an interpretation of the architectural transformation of the temple of Jesús María-Gran Logia La Oriental Peninsular of Mérida, Yucatán, México, which originally served as a Parish for Black people and mulattos under the advocacy of El Dulce Nombre de Jesús. In the mid-nineteenth century, due to the military clashes during the Second Mexican Empire, this building suffered serious deterioration; reason for which, after the Restoration of the Republic, it was subject to a series of partial reconstructions. During the Mexican Revolution, it was seized and converted into the headquarters of the Gran Logia La Oriental Peninsular, with aesthetic adaptations typical of Neo-Mayan Art Deco, and it was demolished in the 1940s. This contribution highlights the virtual reconstruction that made it possible to indicate the permanencies, changes and losses of this heritage piece in its historical evolution.