On the lake side of Avenida Cárdenas lies the Ex-Convento de San Francisco, a religious compound built partly with stones from the Tarascan site up the hill that the Spanish demolished. This is where Franciscan monks began the Spanish missionary effort in Michoacán in the 16th century. The gnarled, shady olive trees in the churchyard came from seedlings planted by Vasco de Quiroga; they’re believed to be the oldest olive trees in the Americas.
Museo Antiguo Convento Franciscano de Santa Ana is a fascinating museum inside the crumbling, but still-functioning Templo de San Francisco (which is straight ahead as you enter the grounds of the Ex-Convento de San Francisco). The museum showcases Purépecha culture and history and documents the arrival of the Spanish and the peoples' conversion to Christianity. The building includes a set of faded murals around the galleries and Mudejar-patterned wooden ceiling ornamentation.
Toward the right rear corner of the complex stands the church built for the Purépecha masses, the Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Salud . Inside is El Santo Entierro de Tzintzuntzan, a much-revered image of Christ. For most of the year it lies in a caja de cristal (glass coffin). During Día de Muertos celebrations it is festooned with fruit and marigolds. On Good Friday, following an elaborate costumed passion play, the image is removed from its coffin and nailed to the large cross; being a Cristo de Goznes (hinged Christ), his arms can be extended and his legs crossed. Afterwards, the image is paraded through town until dark, when it is returned to the church. Pilgrims descend from all over, some in chains or carrying crosses, some crawling on their knees.
