In this picture the main focus is clearly the cathedral at Guadalupe, but what can also be seen is a large crowd of people in front of the building. It is hard to determine if this crowd is entering or exiting the church, but upon closer inspection it appears to be a marketplace with multiple vendors out front. A surprising object in the photo was the telegraph wire running along the street. This is a clear indicator of the development of critical infrastructure within Mexico at the time. The architecture is astounding and looks like truly gifted craftsmen created it. But this also jumps out as a very European building, especially when it is considered that this is in Mexico in a crowd of Mexicans. It almost seems like a reminder that these people are being forced into a European culture. My deductions are that the photographer was intending to photograph the church and unintentionally made a statement on colonialism. The questions I am left with are do the people shown in this photo feel subjugated by the strong catholic presence or have they learned to co-exist with it and was the church dominating the photograph done intentionally to make a statement?

http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/mex/id/1400/rec/12