ST. AUGUSTINE/ISLETA PUEBLO + GUTIERREZ-HUBBELL HOUSE + NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER

We meet at 10:00 at St. Augustine in Isleta, just south of Albuquerque. The church was built around 1710 on the ruins of a previous church destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt, and in recent history it was remodeled and restored in 1910-1923, 1959-1960, and 2008-2013. Our visit is guided by Alan Cherino, St. Augustine’s Coordinator of Historic Preservation.

We then drive ten minutes north to Pajarito in Albuquerque’s South Valley, where we visit the Gutiérrez-Hubbell House. The house, built in 1860, has been used variously as a private residence, a mercantile, a trading post, a stagecoach stop, and a post office. Site manager David Ottaviano guides our visit.

Lunch follows at the nearby National Hispanic Cultural Center. Bring your own meal or call in an order and stop en route at an Albuquerque take-out institution, El Modelo.

After lunch Frank Graziano gives a short, illustrated talk on inculturation (adaptation of Catholicism to diverse world cultures) and syncretism (fusion of religious beliefs and practices) as these pertain to native communities in New Mexico and to an incident at Isleta Pueblo. The talk takes place in NHCC’s muraled Torreón. The tour concludes around 2:00.

Proceeds from the tour benefit the conservation of the Christ of Isleta, a panel painted by a late-fifteenth-century Spanish painter or Flemish painter living in Spain. After conservation the painting will be on permanent display in St. Augustine Church.

At these links are brief histories of the church and the house that we visit.