Puebla Historic Center

Puebla's historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage colonial city 130 kilometers southeast of Mexico City, celebrated as one of the finest examples of colonial baroque architecture in the Americas and as the birthplace of mole poblano, one of Mexico's most complex and iconic culinary creations. Founded by the Spanish in 1531 on a grid plan — rare among colonial Mexican cities — Puebla accumulated within two centuries an extraordinary concentration of churches, convents, and civic buildings decorated in exuberant baroque style using locally produced Talavera ceramic tile. The Cathedral of Puebla, begun in 1575 and completed in 1649, features the tallest towers in Mexico at 69 meters, a richly ornamented interior with a marble main altar, and gold-decorated side chapels. The Capilla del Rosario within the Iglesia de Santo Domingo is considered the finest example of Mexican baroque interior in existence — a ceiling and walls of gilded carved stucco with no surface left undecorated. The Biblioteca Palafoxiana, founded in 1646, is the oldest public library in the Americas and holds 45,000 volumes displayed in original carved-wood baroque shelving. The street known as Calle de los Dulces sells traditional Poblano sweets from convent kitchens including camote (sweet potato candy) and tortitas de Santa Clara. Cholula, 15 minutes from Puebla by colectivo, contains the Great Pyramid of Tepanapa — the largest pyramid by volume in the world at 4.45 million cubic meters — atop which a colonial church was constructed, creating an extraordinary architectural juxtaposition visible for miles across the Cholula plain.