Source: WTL© digital photograph taken on site at the former Augustinian monastery of San Agustín Acolman.
Comments: In the arched opening on the second floor is an open air altar. The reason why the Augustinian monks had this built into their monastery is because the local Indians were only used to outdoor religious ceremonies while their priests were inside the temple proper. When the monks, who, at first, were ignornant of Aztec customs, tried to get their would-be converts into the dark, enclosed interior of the chapel (to the left), the Indians refused to enter, or, if they did go inside the were frightened out of their wits. So the monks adapted by constructing this altar for saying mass to the masses assembled below and outside. Conversions then became possible. The next page (Acolman #7) will view the scene from within the altar.
Humanities Questions: Why might the Aztecs have been so afraid inside the typical Spanish-style chapel? How many years after the mass conversion of native peoples in central Mexico was this convent built?