Architectural Theory and Theology of the Catholic Church Ornamentation in Spain and Hispano-America (Sixteenth Century): A Concept that Transcends the Mere Decorative

According to the documents of the sixteenth century, the act of ornamenting a building supposes a series of actions whose purpose goes beyond embellishing or beautifying a given space. It entails endowing an architectural space with an artistic perfection that allows it to fulfill better its function. In the case of church buildings, the whole range of physical objects in the church—including paintings, sculptures, liturgical fittings and furniture, liturgical vessels, tapestries, reliefs, and stained glass—should work together to honor and glorify the building, or, alternatively, to allow those who enter into it to perceive its high degree of dignity, its condition as sacred space. This article proposes a specific approach to this problem, particularly in the context of sixteenth-century Spanish and Hispano-American discourse on the ornamentation of churches, understanding ornament not as the sum of the ornamental parts of a given church building but rather as a concept aimed at delineating some general features that render a space suitable for worship.