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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



THF FAMOUS FLAT ARCHFS IN OLD SAN BLAS 



A flat arch is an architectural rarity nowadays, but the sturdy churchmen who built this 

 superb old edifice at Old San Bias, in the State of Nayarit, where the galleons once landed 

 stores of silk from the Philippines bound for the court of Spain, had the secret of their 

 construction. Now the church is in ruins, and certain citizens of the world underfoot writhe 

 through the openings in the walls torn by the encroaching jungle. 



