Soaring above a dramatically crumbling stone retaining wall and a centuries-old lion's-head water spout, the ornate Churrigueresque façade of the Templo de San Cayetano de la Valenciana announces itself with unmistakable Baroque swagger in this striking chrome-era postcard from Guanajuato, Mexico. The church — built between 1765 and 1788 and funded by the immense wealth of the nearby Valenciana silver mine — is considered one of the finest examples of Churrigueresque architecture in the Americas, its carved stone portal a riot of saints, flora, and geometric ornament framed by an extraordinary set of wrought-iron gates. The low angle chosen by the photographer amplifies the church's vertical drama, while the weathered foreground wall grounds the composition in the gritty reality of mining-town life that funded all this magnificence.