Statue of Cervantes and painting of Spanish destruction of Indigenous knowledge, Biblioteca Publica de Universidad Michoacana, Morelia, Mexico, 2023

Built in 1660, this former convent now houses the public library for the University of Michoacan. American artist Hollis Holbrook placed his painting of the Spanish Conquest under the former choir loft. Ironically, in this former church next to a statue of the famous Spanish writer Cervantes, we see Spanish priests and soldiers burning the Aztec codices containing the knowledge of the enslaved Indigenous people staring at their loss.