Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Texcoco, Cathedral in Texcoco, State of Mexico, Mexico

The Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Texcoco is a 16th-century religious structure featuring a Latin cross floor plan, an octagonal dome, and two three-story towers. The towers are decorated with plant motifs that enliven the facade and make the building visible from a distance.

Franciscan friars began a monastery here in 1526, with Friar Pedro de Gante and local workers building one of the earliest religious complexes in New Spain. This project was part of the wider evangelization efforts that Spain launched after conquest.

The Capilla de la Tercera Orden, on the left side of the church, holds two gilded Baroque altarpieces; the main one has estípite columns. The interior also keeps a Baroque retablo and paintings from the colonial period. The Capilla de la Enseñanza, on the north side, carries a carved Castilian alphabet on its front, cut by evangelized indigenous craftsmen.

The building sits about 26 kilometers from Mexico City and maintains regular religious services that visitors can observe from appropriate areas. Expect longer crowds when major ceremonies are taking place, and dress respectfully since this is an active place of worship.

On the north side stands the Chapel of the Purísima Concepción, also called La Enseñanza de Gante. Its frontispiece carries a carved old Castilian alphabet, and the letters do not follow alphabetical order because the indigenous converts who carved them arranged them themselves. The school of arts and crafts founded by Emiliano Alexander Martínez de la Vara stood on this spot.