Cholula / Puebla Private Tour

The Archaeological Zone of Cholula has three areas enabled for public visits, firstly the Site Museum of the Archaeological Zone of Cholula with its three permanent exhibition rooms; secondly, the route inside the tunnel inside the Great Pyramid, which consists of approximately 280 meters of route in the same plane, artificially lit and without risks that the visitor can get lost, and finally the so-called open area of the Archaeological Zone of Cholula constituted by the ceremonial patios of the south and the west of the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

Two religious interpretations coexist in the Church of Tonantzintla, the indigenous one and the Christian one brought by the Spanish. Santa María Tonantzintla is a small municipality in San Andrés Cholula. The main attraction is its church considered the maximum expression of the indigenous baroque. In the Mexica culture Tonantzin was a goddess identified with the Earth. The word Tonantzintla comes from Nahuatl and means place of our mother. With the arrival of the Spaniards, the name of Santa María was added, in honor of the Virgin Mary.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, according to its Marian dedication, is the episcopal seat of the Archdiocese of Puebla. It is one of the most important buildings in the historic center declared a world heritage site. It has the prerogative of being the first sumptuous temple that under good designs was made in America, consecrated in 1649 it was ahead of the Metropolitan of Mexico that was dedicated in 1653. The current Herrerian-style cathedral was built between the 16th and 17th centuries, and replaced the previous one that existed in what is now the atrium. From the beginning of its construction in 1575 to its consecration, 74 years elapsed which are located during the period of three kings of Spain, Felipe II, Felipe III and Felipe IV.

The Capilla del Rosario, housed in the Temple of Santo Domingo, in the city of Puebla, is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of New Spain's Baroque in Mexico. Built around 1690, this architectural jewel was considered in its time as the “eighth wonder of the world”. Its interior, in the left transept of the nave of the complex, has a Latin cross plan, although with very short arms. In the vault you can admire represented the three theological virtues, framed by dense foliage; and in the dome Grace is appreciated, accompanied by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and by a group of 16 Dominican saints.

On September 5, 1646, Bishop Palafox y Mendoza donated his personal library, consisting of five thousand volumes, to the seminarians of the Tridentine schools, ordering that it be consulted by anyone who wanted to read or study, for which it is considered the first public library in the American continent. Since then, he settled in the former Colegio de San Juan, in the heart of the city of Puebla. Named in 1981, Historic Monument of Mexico for its beautiful emblem of the New Spain Baroque; and in 2005, included by UNESCO as part of the Memory of the World program for its ancient background bibliographic collection; The Palafoxiana Library is today a book museum and continues its work as a universal library. In addition, it has a Play Room to disseminate the library arts among children.