Drought reveals 400-year-old sunken church in Mexico

A 16th Century church has re-emerged in the Grijalva River in southern Mexico due to a drastic drought.

It's the second time the 400-year-old roofless relic in the state of Chiapas has come up for air. An 80 feet drop in water levels on the river caused the latest eerie re-emergence.

Bartolome de las Casas was the first Bishop of Chiapas in the 16th Century. Credit: APTN

The last time the river was this low was in 2002, when curious visitors were able to walk around the ruins.

Fishermen are now offering tours around the building, which was flooded in 1966 when a nearby hydroelectric dam was completed.

A plague decimated locals in the late 1700s, meaning the church was abandoned. Credit: APTN

"The church was abandoned due to the big plagues of 1773 to 1776 ", architect Carlos Naverrette, who worked with Mexican authorities on a report about the watery structure told the Associated Press.

It was built by Spanish monks who arrived during the colonisation of the New World and was on the King's Highway, one of the major routes from Spain's outposts in what is now Florida to its conquests in Mexico.