MEXICO CITY.- The temple of Nuestra Señora de Loreto (Our Lady of Loreto), one of the most important Catholic parishes in Sonora, has a detailed inventory of the 88 religious pieces dated from 17th to 20th centuries, which add up to the 700 already catalogued at 14 temples of Sonora State.

Conducted by a team of specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) the register is part of the Program of Identification, Registry and Cataloguing of Movable Historical Monuments, implemented to prevent robbery of this cultural heritage.

Liturgical objects, sculptures, paintings and furniture are some of the pieces catalogued at the Temple of Our Lady of Loreto, located in Bacadehuachi, at the northwest of the entity, work coordinated by historian Esperanza Donjuan.

This census will provide control of the heap guarded at this church, and will help deepen the knowledge regarding each one of the objects, facilitating future restoration. “This work will allow studying the development of sacred art in Northern Mexico, as well as liturgical traditions of this community”, expressed the specialist of Sonora INAH Center.

As part of this national cataloguing program conducted by INAH since 2003, more than 700 religious goods have been inventoried in Sonora localities of Rayon, Pitiquito, Caborca, Opodepe, Oquitoa, Huepac, Maicoba, Arizpe, San Miguel de Horcasitas, Ures, Pimeria Alta, Onovas, Guaymas and Bacadehuachi.

Classification of objects at Nuestra Señora de Loreto was carried out parting from particular features of each of them, such as material, technique, date of creation, and, when possible, name of the author.

Photographic register accounts for each piece and the conservation state they have to present. “This will help researchers and restorers because sometimes we receive very old pieces in bad conservation state, without knowing which technique was used to manufacture them, so this information will help us to intervene with more precision and velocity”.

For anthropologists and historians, the catalogue will help them to know more about the development of Sonora population, their traditions and liturgical customs.

An example of the utility of this catalogue, commented the Sonora INAH Center historian, is the opportune intervention of pieces rescued from the Temple of San Fernando, in Guaymas, which flooded in 2009.

Historian Esperanza Donjuan concluded saying that a copy of the catalogue was handed over to civil and religious authorities.