The city of Puebla, officially Heroic Puebla de Zaragoza (nicknamed Angelópolis) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Puebla. The city has a population of 1,399,519 (the municipality, 1,485,941). The metropolitan area of the city, however, extends over 10 municipalities of the state of Puebla, such as the city of Cholula and 13 of the state of Tlaxcala, and with a population of 2,109,049 it is fourth most populous metropolitan area in Mexico. Puebla is an important industrial, cultural and educational center of Mexico for the central and south-east regions. It is also one of the oldest colonial cities in the continent.

Puebla is located in the Valley of Puebla, surrounded by volcanoes and snow-capped mountains, slightly over 110 kilometres southeast of Mexico City.

Cathedral of Puebla

The city of Puebla was founded on April 16, 1531 as “La Puebla de los Ángeles”. It was the first city in central Mexico founded by the Spanish conquerors that was not built upon the ruins of a conquered Amerindian settlement. Its strategic location, half-way between the port of Veracruz and Mexico City, made it the second most important city during the colonial period. During the 17th century, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz lived in the city until her confrontation with the Bishop of Puebla.

Four decades after Mexico’s independence, General Ignacio Zaragoza’s army defeated French expeditionary forces near Puebla on May 5, 1862 in the Battle of Puebla. During the French intervention, the people of Puebla sided with the French and did not lend the needed support to the Mexican troops. This lead Ignacio Zaragoza to write a letter back to Mexico City after the defeat of the French with the help of the Tlaxcaltecans petitioning to burn the city down. Instead, the name was changed to “Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza” as punishment against the very religious city.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a number of European immigrants came to the city, mainly from Germany, Italy and Spain. Today, the Colonia Humboldt neighborhood shows the influence of the local German population in its architecture, traditions and festivals like the local Oktoberfest, as well as in the town of Chipilo, now absorbed by the metropolitan area of the city, where people speak a dialect of Venetian known as the Chipilo Venetian dialect. The folkloric Mexican women’s dress known as China Poblana was created in Puebla. Also, the “Talavera Poblana” is a fine earthenware of colonial origin still made in the city. It’s a motif unique to Puebla; dineware, plant pots, churches and even streets may be lined with tiles of Talavera.

The Cathedral of Santo Domingo in Cusco, which is also known as ‘Cusco Cathedral,’ is set on the main square of the Peruvian city, the Plaza de Armas[1]. Building was completed in 1654, almost a hundred years after construction began. Adjacent, and joined, to the cathedral is the smaller ‘Iglesia del Triunfo’, which was the first christian church to be built in Cusco. The ‘Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus,’that also dominates the Plaza de Armas, was built at a similar time to Santo Domingo. The Cathedral, as well as its official status as a place of worship, has become a major repository of Cusco’s colonial art, and also many artifacts and relics.
The face of the ornate Cathedral of Santo Domingo, in Cusco, Peru.

Cathedral of Santo Domingo

The Cathedral’s construction began in 1559[3], and the foundations of Kiswarkanchar were used as foundations for the latin cross-shaped cathedral. The location of Viracocha’s palace was chosen for the purpose of removing the Inca religion from Cusco, and replacing it with Spanish catholic christianity[2]. Due to the fact that 1559 was only 26 years after the conquistadores entered Cusco in 1533[4], the vast majority of the population was still of Quechua Inca descent. Therefore, as the Spaniards had assumed power over the Cusco populace, the Incas were used as a labour workforce[2] to build the Cathedral.

The original designs for the 1-acre (4,000 m2) large construction were drawn by the Spanish architect and conquistador, Juan Miguel de Veramendi. His design of a latin cross shape incorporated a three-aisled nave which was held up by only 14 pillars. Over the 95 years of its construction, the building work was supervised by more Spanish priests and architects, until its completion in 1654.

Most of the stones from the building were taken from Saqsaywaman, an Inca holy and defensive structure located on the hills above Cusco, although due to the large size of Saqsaywaman, a considerable proportion of the site remains intact.

Copyright Jim Rogers – provided as a special contribution to The Fenton Report