Source: WTL© digital photograph taken on site in Antigua, Guatemala.
Comments: This is the patio at the center of what is now Antigua's Museo de Arte Colonial (Colonial Art Museum). Among the sparse and neglected art in this museum, whose only masterpiece is the building itself, are a few paintings by colonial Mexican artists such as Miguel Cabrera and Juan de Correa. (Photography is prohibited in the galaries, which are the former classrooms that open onto this patio.) For a brief tour of architectural details of this building, start at: => Antigua #19a.
Humanities topics: Before we look at some architectural details, it is worth pausing a moment in this quiet and elegant patio to imagine what it might be like to have been a student in this place, in this environment. As a student, what do you imagine? In the degree to which environment (surroundings, style, etc.) circumscribe one's human reality, how do you imagine this place would help create the education that one took place here? (Note: you may wish to return to this course's definition of culture: => Humanities Terms Definition II.)