Way to Puebla

More about the city of Puebla... One of the reasons Puebla was chosen as a World Heritage Site was due to the historic and cultural value of its architecture. Various styles and techniques such as Baroque, Renaissance and Classic are represented here in over 5,000 buildings included in the catalogue.[9] The historic center is filled with churches, monasteries, mansions and the like, mostly done in gray cantera stone, red brick and decorated with multicolored tiles. Puebla is also considered to be the cradle of Mexican Baroque both in architecture and in the decorative arts,[10] and one of the five most important colonial cities in Mexico.[1]

In spite of the many commercial centers that exist in Puebla today, the Zocalo remains the cultural, political and religious center of the city.[11] It was the first block to be laid out, with the rest of the historic center traced out from it in the form of a checkerboard. This main plaza originally was rectangular, but later made square because the earlier version was considered to be ugly. Until the end of the 18th century, this was the main market for the town. For much of the colonial period, it was the main source of potable water via a fountain that had been installed in center in the mid 16th century.[4] Many political and cultural events have been and continue to be held here. Bullfights were held in the main square from 1566 to 1722.[11] Today, the Zocalo is a tree-filled plaza and contains a large number of sculptures, but the most noted is the one of the Archangel Michael that is in a fountain placed in the center in 1777. Many notable buildings surround the Zocalo including the Municipal Palace, the Casa de Muñecas and the Cathedral. Most of the streets in Puebla are named on a numbering system, which centers on the northwest corner of the Zocalo.[12]


Cathedral of PueblaThe Cathedral, located on 16 de Septiembre and 5 Oriente, took 300 years to complete, in part due to interruptions in its construction. The Cathedral was begun in 1575 under orders of Philip II of Spain by architects Francisco Becerra and Juan de Cigorondo. The building was consecrated in 1649 even though only half of the walls and much of the roof were missing and the towers not yet built. The north tower was added in 1678 and the south tower in 1768.The shape of the cathedral is a Latin cross and contains five naves. The main altar is octagonal, with four others oriented to the cardinal directions[10] The complex consists of fourteen chapels in various styles with numerous artistic works such as the main cupola and the main altar, both decorated by Cristóbal de Villalpando. The facade is classified as late Baroque in transition to Neoclassical, with Doric and Corinthian columns. Its bell towers stand at just under 70 meters high, the tallest in Mexico. The seating in the choir is made of parquetry of fine woods, onyx and ivory of Moorish design. The two organs were donated by Charles V.[9] In the crypt under the Cathedral, numerous statues of saints and angels made of onyx can be seen.[13]

The Museo Amparo (Amparo Museum) is housed in two colonial-era buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries that were popularly known as El Hospitalito. One was the Hospital of San Juan de Letrán, which was converted into a college for women. The other is a mansion from the 18th century. It was joined to the hospital and then became the Deposito de Mujeres Casadas (Refuge of Married Women) This was established in 1606 for women whose husbands were gone for long periods of time. However, the idea was not popular with women and in 1609, it became the asylum for lost women, those obligated to be secluded for some reason. This facility was moved to another building and the building became part of the womens college founded next door, then a convent. The museum has fourteen exhibition halls with pottery, steles and sculptures from the Zapotec, Huasteca, Maya, Olmec and Aztec cultures as well as fine furniture and religious objects from the colonial period and examples of contemporary art. These represent the three epochs of Mexican history, pre-Hispanic, colonial-era and post-Independence. Seven of the halls are dedicated to pre-Hispanic pieces.[14][15]

The Biblioteca Palafoxiana (Palafoxiana Library) was established in 1646 by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza for the Seminary of Puebla. He donated his own collection of 5,000 books to the College of San Juan to start the collection. It was the first library in the Americas and is the only one to survive to the present day. The main room is in Baroque style which was constructed in 1773, by Bishop Francisco Fabian y Fuero who also named the institution after Palafox. Today the library contains over 42,000 books, 5,000 manuscripts and other items, which date from 1473 to 1910. The Library was named a Monumento Histórico de México and UNESCO has made it part of Memory of the World.[16]

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