As has been said, the interior plan of the cathedral forms a
parallelogram 97.67 meters long, from the façade (Puerta del Perdón) to the sidewalk of Calle 2 Sur, from West to East, by 51 meters wide, from South to North; if we have to consider only the cathedral temple without the Miter, that is to say, from the
façade to the
Altar of the Kings, the measurement is 82 meters. Five
naves rise in this space in the form of a
Greek cross: the main nave, the crossing nave, two processional naves and two for the chapels. It has 14 colossal Doric style columns almost 15 meters high from the plinth to the capital, all fluted, 6
pilasters of the same height, supporting the vaults and
arches of the upper nave and 18 columns embedded in the side walls of 9.78 meters from plinth to capital, they support the vaults of the lower naves. All the pillars carry the weight of forty vaults and two
domes, all of which are made of gray quarry stone that was brought from the neighboring towns of the city and carved with such precision that the work seems error-free. The 14 isolated columns that form the middle nave are not round, but form a square post with a column embedded in each face, taking this conception into account, we have a total of 74 columns and six pilasters. These support 12 visible main arches and 4 hidden ones, adding those of the lateral naves are a total of 30 visible and 4 embedded in the main walls. The main body of the cathedral has two
domes, one over the Altar of the Kings without a dome and another with it in the
crossing, the largest of all, in addition to 14 spherical or half-plate cupolas, which belong to the lateral naves; in addition, those of the chapels must be counted, which are 14 of the type of truncated vaulted ceiling or handkerchief, being a total of 39, all adorned with their
rosettes in the middle and golden
coffers ordered from largest to smallest towards the vertices that are covered
fleurons with nail and in turn the
medallions hang on each one along the temple and turning it. With the exception of the shell of the largest dome made of
pumice stone to lighten its weight,
lime and stone were used in the others. Eight
niches with sculptures of the prophets and evangelists in white
stucco are found in the drum of the main dome. Its creator was the Spanish architect and sculptor
Pedro García Ferrer, nephew of Bishop Palafox. The paving is of alternating red and black marble,'0 called Santo Tomás. The building is illuminated by 124 windows, of which 27 are round, using 2,215 panes that were originally placed in 1664.
Altars of the Gospel and the Epistle and on the right the Choir. . Each collateral nave has its altar at its head: the one on the Gospel side is dedicated to
Saint Joseph and the one on the Epistle to
Archangel Michael. These two altars are equally gilded and Corinthian order. They are made up of four large columns in the first body and two small ones in the second. Each altar has a large
niche with crystals, inside of which are placed the images of the saints to whom they are dedicated, on beautiful silver bases and four bouquets of the same metal. The image of the Archangel Michael has his cane and other silver decorations, and on the sides in the
intercolumnios, on some shelves, two statues of Archangel Gabriel and Archangel Raphael are placed on beautiful silver bases and their candle holders of the same metal; these figures being life-size. The altar table has a silver front and supports a tabernacle more than a meter high made of the same metal, with a niche in the middle where a Christ by
José Antonio Villegas Cora is placed, and others on the sides with various relics. The altar of Saint Joseph, to the right of the Altar of the Kings, has the same silver decoration and the statues between the columns are of
Joachim and
Saint Anne. The one of Saint Joseph is by Cora. Another Holy Christ with the Virgin and Saint John is placed in the tabernacle of this altar. •
Stations of the Cross The series of paintings that recount the
Stations of the Cross located along both processional naves is the work of the famous 18th-century Oaxacan painter
Miguel Cabrera. •
Transept Through the access on the north side of the
transept there is a large-format oil painting of
Saint Christopher carrying the Child Jesus and in front of it is the archangel Michael by the 18th-century painter
Luis Berrueco. On the south side the patronage of Saint Joseph is represented and on the opposite side Stages of the Life of Saint John Nepomucene, martyr of the secret of confession, by the 19th century painter
Miguel Jerónimo Zendejas. In the second body of the crossing naves, the four evangelists, Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint John and Saint Luke, are represented in 19th-century tempera paintings by the Pueblan painter
Julián Ordóñez, the doors' gates were assembled in
cedar in the 17th century in the
Mudéjar style that were completed by the 10th Bishop
Diego Osorio de Escobar y Llamas and the architect Francisco Gutiérrez intervened in the regency of the work, highlighting three reliefs on the main gates: in the center the
coat of arms of Spain, in the lateral ones that of the first bishop Friar
Julián Garcés Romano and that of the 9th bishop
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza.
Plan • Altar of the Catholic Monarchs. • High altar or baldachin (Cypress). • Choir and organs. • Chapel del Apóstol Santiago. • Chapel of San Pedro. • Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe. • Chapel del Sagrado Corazón de María. • Chapel of la Inmaculada Concepción. • Chapel del Señor de la Preciosa Sangre. • Chapel of San Nicolás De Bari. • Chapel of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores. • Chapel del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. • Chapel of las Santas Reliquias. • Chapel of San Juan Nepomuceno. • Chapel del Señor de la Columna. • Chapel of la Virgen de Ocotlán. • Chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. • Tabernacle. • Sacristy. • Hall of los Gobelinos. • Chapter House • Hall of the Cathedral Chapter • Archive. • Chapel del Espíritu Santo (Ochavo).
Altar of the Kings in 1688. It gets its name from the images of holy kings and queens in the lateral
niches of its
reredos. The complex is made up of a
dome on
pendentives, a main
altarpiece, two side reredos and the
tabernacle. The chapel was designed by the Spaniard
Juan Martínez Montañés and its main altarpiece in Solomonic
Baroque style was the work of master Lucas Méndez under the direction of
Pedro García Ferrer, and inspired by a sketch by Sebastián de Arteaga, it was consecrated on April 18, 1649. by Bishop
Palafox and its factory lasted seven years. The sumptuous painting of the dome is one of the few
tempera paintings preserved in Mexico and that consecrates the triumph of the
Eucharist, it is the work of the Baroque painter
Cristóbal de Villalpando made in the year 1688, commissioned by Bishop
Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, achieving a large set of figures in bright colors in the manner of the great Italian masters of the seventeenth century. He himself decorated the pendentives with images of the four Jewish heroines
Judith,
Ruth,
Esther and
Jael, strong women decked out in the elitist manner of the 17th century. The fourth body and auction is made up of the oil painting of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Trinity placed between paired columns of the compound order, the large central space is made up of the second and third body with
Solomonic columns, it is occupied by the oil painting of the Assumption of Mary, on the left side intercolumns
Edward the Confessor and
Ferdinand III of Castile on the right side
Helena of Constantinople, mother of Emperor Constantine, and
Margaret Queen of Scotland. The first body is made up of square
pilasters and
Ionic capitals and in each intercolumnium the sculptures of
Louis IX of France and
Saint Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, in the middle part of this body is the
Tabernacle with four Solomonic columns, in the glass niche there is the image of
Our Lady of Defense on a base and silver column, in the collaterals of this tabernacle there are two oil paintings: the birth of the Child Jesus where the 9th bishop of Puebla
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza is represented and the adoration of the
Saints Magi Kings. All the paintings on this altar, with the exception of the dome, were made by the Spanish architect and painter
Pedro García Ferrer, a close relative of Bishop Juan de Palafox.
High altar , built between 1799 and 1819, the work of
Manuel Tolsá, focuses on the bronze figure of the
Immaculate Conception, 2 meters high and weighing almost a ton. The ninth bishop,
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, had collected the spoils of his predecessors in the year 1649, which were in other churches in Puebla and thus began the pantheon of bishops in the old tabernacle. Around the year 1798, when
Salvador Bienpica y Sotomayor was bishop, they tried to make a new one and it was thought to be made of silver, but this idea was discarded and later Manuel Tolsá, director of sculpture at the Academy of Mexico, was consulted who agreed to make the plan and model; once contracted, the demolition was carried out on September 1, 1799, beginning the new work with enormous expenses, after some changes in the administration, the architect
José Manzo took over the direction. They worked hard and without consideration of expenses until completing the splendid work that kept the people of Puebla in expectation for 20 years. The current main altar, called
Cypress, was blessed on December 5, 1819. The burial and transfer of the mortal remains of the Angelopolitan bishops to the bishops' crypt took place on May 14, 1824. The main artists who worked on it, in addition to Tolsá and Manzo, were:
Pedro Patiño Ixtolinque, master Pedro Pablo Lezama in the work of marble and masonry, José Ramírez in stucco; The bronze and silver work was done in Mexico by Manuel Camaño, the chiseled Joaquín de Izunsa and the silversmith Simón Salmón who, among other works, cast the beautiful image of the Immaculate Conception of Tolsá. The
ambons for the readings and the pulpit were the work of Joseph de Medina in 1719. •
Architecture The height of the Cypress, from the ground to the head of the statue of Saint Peter, is 17.50 meters. It is a
Neoclassical style building with the influence of
ancient Roman architecture of its time of decline, which involves volumetric searches breaking into complicated
entablatures and
pediments to the counterpoint of straight lines and curves, in this monument there is a wide variety of materials such as Tecali marble, stucco, bronze, brass and cedar wood in the crypts. This cypress is placed on a stone pedestal 2.61 meters high in square and sits on a circular plan of
Corinthian order forming an open tower with four fronts. The first body is made up of 16 fluted
Corinthian columns, 5.66 meters high, grouped by four at each angle that enclose the doctors of the church in white
stucco,
Saint Gregory,
Saint Ambrose,
Saint Augustine and
Saint Jerome. The cornice is interrupted in each section of the pillars to house in its gaps large gleams with the
anagram of the
Virgin Mary and stucco finials of angels, on the dome a Saint Peter surrounded by
seraphim and clouds in white stucco finishes off, the lower part it was decorated in a very sumptuous way in keeping with the rest of the monument, the building leaves a large hollow space for the tabernacle and the
Immaculate Conception, it is classified by means of a stepped plinth with eight sides that mark corner pilasters and have gilded doors in their openings, it is closed by a better half and culminates with the statue of the Immaculate Virgin who steps on the biblical serpent in the clouds, it was cast in bronze and weighs 920 kilograms. The base of the cypress, in a round shape and with a flat vault, where there are four small doors for access to the crypts of the bishops, are only opened on November 2, the
All Souls' Day. File:Cipres de Catedral.jpg|Cypress of the cathedral in 1900. File:Ciprés de la Catedral de Puebla.JPG File:Ciprés de la Catedral de Puebla, México.JPG File:Pintura de techo en la catedral.jpg File:Escultura de la Inmaculada Concepción en el Ciprés de la catedral de Puebla 02.jpg
Choir The Choir that is located in front of the Puerta del Perdón, was built in the last decade of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century with the purpose that this place was destined for the
oratory of the
cathedral chapter de Puebla, for which the installation was required, in successive periods, of organs for the harmonization of ceremonies. The Choir is made up of three large walls that open in the shape of a horseshoe in the direction of the high altar, the space it creates is closed by a 17th-century wrought Pueblan iron gate by master Juan Mateo de la Cruz that ends with the Calvary in ivory and in the collaterals, the bell towers. The interior is made up of 52 chairs in two exclusive rows for the ecclesiastical council, the stalls are made of beautiful Pueblan
marquetry, with fine wood, bone and ivory forming different grecados, on the backs of each chair. The two small doors that give access to the choir were inlaid on both sides and with reliefs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; these stalls and doors were donated by the 14th bishop
Pedro Nogales Dávila and worked in the eighteenth century by the master Pedro Muñoz, in the center of the choir on a tecali stone baluster there is a cedar lectern where it supports four books of the 16th century with
Gregorian music and engravings by
Luis Lagarto, this beautiful lectern finishes off the statue of
Saint John of Nepomuk martyr of the secret of confession and patron saint of priests. •
Organs The
organs that make up the choral ensemble are three: the first, whose main decoration faces the epistle
nave or right-hand processional nave, dates from the 18th century, was built from 1710 to 1719 by Félix Izaguirre, and is no longer in use today, the second old organ it was built by Inocencio Maldonado in 1737; The third organ that looks towards the front of the baldachin and towards the Altar del Perdón is the largest in this cathedral it has been given the name "International" because three nations participated in its construction: the United States in 1958, in the city of Buffalo the electronic part with four keyboards was built, Germany the artistic and gilded pipes and Mexico the assembly of cedar wood and gold leaf decoration. It was assembled inside the cathedral by artists from Puebla. The so-called International organ has a total of 3376
pipes or musical sounds, it is
electro-pneumatic based on turbines and electricity, the largest tube measures 12 m and the smallest 1 cm, it plays on big occasions such as weddings, graduations, concerts, etc. It was inaugurated on December 8, 1973, by Archbishop
Octaviano Márquez y Toriz. Of the three organs, the two old ones are no longer in service since they stopped working at the end of the 19th century and they were never sent to restore since the chapter wanted to preserve them as artistic relics or decorative jewels, testimonies of the historical and religious trajectory of the cathedral. File:Coro de la Catedral de Puebla 01.jpg|Choir stalls File:Coro y órgano de la Catedral.JPG|The Choir from the baldachin. File:Órgano y Coro de la Catedral de Puebla.JPG|The organ and grille of the Choir.
Gospel chapels The left processional nave known as the Gospel nave has the following chapels: •
Chapel del Apóstol Santiago This chapel communicates with the
Sagrario (Tabernacle), the symbols on the fan of the grille indicate that it was originally consecrated to
Saint James the Great, the Baroque altarpieces were removed to make way for a Doric Neoclassical one, which has a sculpture of
Saint James the Less in the central niche, which must have come from the destroyed altarpieces. The painting of
Saint Philomena stands out, patron saint of maids or lawyer to find honest servitude, it is the work of the 19th century artist Rafael Morante,
Sagrario (Sanctuary) The
Capilla del Sagrario Metropolitano of Puebla is a chapel of the cathedral, of the city of
Puebla, Mexico. The chapel called del Sagrario responded to the need to have a space apart from the cathedral to deal with matters related to the Sacraments and spiritual services originally imparted to the
Criollo-Spanish population and their servants, as it was also that the interior of the cathedral as an episcopal see should not, for practical reasons, serve as a parish.
Sacristy in the Sacristy. The access to the Sacristy is through the first chapel on the side of the epistle, its measurements are 17 m and 10.40 m wide. The large space is surrounded by a large chest of drawers made of fine wood that houses the rich and abundant liturgical ornaments and in the middle a large table made of fine wood in the Renaissance style. The upper part of the sacristy is full of paintings. The large canvas in the background represents
The Triumph of the Catholic Church over paganism, the lateral panels cover them, on the left, the painting of "
The Triumph of the faith of Jesus Christ over the pagan theogony" and on the right another of the "Triumph of the religion", all by the 17th-century Mexican painter
Baltasar de Echave Rioja that were copied from prints by
Paul Rubens. Other canvases on the Revelations of the Apocalypse, also by Echave Rioja, crown the midpoints of the side panels. All these paintings are framed in gilt altarpieces of
composite order of great aesthetic appeal. The walls of the following vault are also covered with large-format canvases: In the front interspace, in a
Churrigueresque-style painting, the "
Immaculate Conception stands out under the patronage of the bishops of the Diocese of Puebla", beside it stands Friar
Julián Garcés first bishop and
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza to conclude the works of the cathedral, this beautiful canvas was painted by
Luis Berrueco, and in the blades of its half point, the apparitions of Our Lady of Pilar to Saint James and
Saint Ildefonsus. On the sides is "
The lavatory" of the painter
Luis Berrueco from the 18th century. On the sides of the entrance doors are two ovals, one of Saint Joseph and the other of Archangel Michael, both by the painter Ibarra. In one corner of the large space is a 3 m high tecali marble fountain or ewer. File:Detalle y lienzos de la Sacristía.JPG File:Catedral de Puebla,Sacristía,Puebla de los Ángeles,Puebla,México (6281713815).jpg File:Lavatorio de la Sacristía.JPG
Hall of los Gobelinos s in the Hall of los Gobelinos. In this room, 4 tapestries (
Gobelins) from
Greek mythology shine in all their magnificence, representing Queen
Hippolyta of the Amazons on the banks of the
Termodont who was defeated by
Heracles, the chariot of the aurora excels as a nurse of nature and the encounter of
Thalestris and
Alexander the Great Generalissimo of the Hellenes. The last gobelin is the embarkation of the Argonauts in search of the golden belloniso, they come from the
French manufacture of
Jean Gobelin of the fifteenth century, brought by the Spaniards.
Chapter House Also known as the Hall of Bishops, it was carved with a certain amount of stone, it was originally covered with “expensive moldings in the manner of those of Mexico, with ribs, an enclosure that was modified by groin vaults made of flagstone and brick. One of the areas less known by the public of the majestic Cathedral of Puebla, which only a few people access. In it are the portraits of the bishops that Puebla has had throughout its history, such as: Rosendo Huesca y Pacheco. In the center is a statue of Saint John Nepomuk, who is there to remember the secrecy of the meetings. It has changed places several times, firstly it is the twin room of the sacristy, which was later inhabited as the Sagrario, remaining, as it has been until today, separated from the main enclosure, even in matters of worship. Later, the room that is currently the Hall of los Gobelinos was built, with its dome for greater solemnity, and then, in the 19th century, the construction of the room that today serves for the aforementioned purposes. The current Chapter House has the Hall of los Gobelinos as an antechamber, although it is somewhat narrower since it measures just 5.07 m. wide by 20 m. of length. It is covered with groin vaults, barely pointed, one of them with a skylight, oculus or "porthole", in the front wall.
Chocolatier hall The chocolate room is located next to the Hall of los Gobelinos and its windows adjoin the old Calle del Obispado (now 5 Oriente). It was used by the prebendaries and canons to store their belongings in the narrow cabinets that each one was assigned, it was also provided with breakfast or snack during the long sessions of chapter in which cups of
chocolate were not lacking. Its vaults are edge or handkerchief divided into several sections. Along its three walls are the oil portraits of distinguished canons of the Puebla cathedral who would later attain episcopal dignity.
Archive The physical Archive of the
Cathedral Chapter is a space of 14 m by 4 m adjacent to the sidewalk of 5 Oriente with only access through the
Chapter house, very small for the extensive amount of documents it keeps. It has documents dating back to 1539, such as volume number one of the branch "Actas de cabildo" and the "Asientos de diezmos arrendados" from the period 1539–1583, even before the third Mexican Council of 1585 ordered the establishment of archives for the
New Spanish cathedrals. Since its formation as a repository of documents, it remained in the same place through the centuries without great order or concert, only until 1952 did the Cabildo resolve its ordering, but not its classification, since it did not have indexes or catalogues. Without due control and because it was considered a pile of old papers, the archive suffered the theft of documents, many times unconsciously and others self-interested, such as the fact that there is not a single signature of Bishop
Palafox, an absence attributed to the fact that the older students advantaged of the Palafoxian Seminary was rewarded with an original signature of the prelate as a souvenir. In the same way it suffered other important mutilations such as the evident lack of complete files torn from volumes of lawsuits for tithes or for rights and prerogatives of the cathedral. With all this, the cathedral Chapter Archive is considered one of the most important of the New Spanish period and indispensable for regional history. The archive was rescued and organized by Support for the Development of Archives and Libraries of Mexico. Among the most important branches of the archive, the following stand out: •
Acts of council from 1539 to 1558 •
Briefs of certificates and trades, episcopal governments of Fabián y Fuero, López Gonzalo and Pérez de Echeverría •
Chaplains •
Cédulas Reales from 1540 to 1796. •
Confraternities. •
Correspondence of Bishop Francisco Pablo Vászquez y Sánchez Vizcayno. •
Council Decrees. •
Tithes from 1539 to 1856. •
Edicts and pastoral letters. •
Building of the churches from 1570 to 1829. •
Cathedral inventories. •
Books of payments to the Holy Inquisition. •
Music: series containing 145 files, 86 choral books and 21 minor books. •
Music by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla: seven sets of Christmas carols belonging to the years 1551, 1552, 1553, 1555, 1556 and 1557 for eight voices, in addition to the one from 1559 for seven voices. •
Palafox y Mendoza: about 50 volumes of his printed works. •
Poor and widows. •
Graves. •
Manuscripts of an indeterminate number of authors: Eguiranta, Palafox, Clavijero, Alegre, among many other branches.
Music The cathedral in Puebla had a distinguished musical tradition, dating from the late sixteenth century. One of the most distinguished musicians was
Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, active as chapel master from 1629 to 1664. His wrote extended and complex works, including polychoral masses as well as
villancicos (for the Christmas season). His music shows between others the evidence of New Spain's non-white population in
tocotines (Nahua influence) and
negrillos and
porto ricos (African influence). The cathedral has extant choir books of his compositions. His villancicos "stand as one of the greatest contributions to American music history."
Chapel del Espíritu Santo (Ochavo) This chapel is better known as del Ochavo, it has a semicircular vault and an 8-sided lantern, its interior is covered by 3 altarpieces that are covered with small paintings and mirrors belonging mostly to historical religious series. This chapel is in the Baroque style of the 17th century, it was a small oratory and deposit, today reduced to its minimum expression and disuse, the oil paintings alternate with framed and embroidered reliquaries, they are works by
Cristóbal de Villalpando. It was built under the episcopal government of
Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz. Its factory is due to the renowned architect
Carlos García Durango commissioned by a chapter session who approved the work in the year 1674. It was designed on an octagonal floor plan then called Ochavada enclosed in a box of almost 10 m per side with walls of 7.30 m high to the base of the dome which is covered with bricks and finished off with a lantern with
Talavera decorations ending in an iron weathervane.
Jewelry The cypress is decorated with 48
candlesticks or bouncers, silver with gold overlays, one meter high of exquisite workmanship, with their respective candles, and 8 silver bouncers with gold overlays, 4 beautiful burnished silver jugs with their bouquets silver cupella 1.80 m high are combined with the said bouncers and in the tabernacle four other equal jars with their bouquets although 1.20 m high, 25 oil lamps and 6 lamps hang from the vaults of the church, of which two stand out that hang on the sides of the tabernacle of more than 2 m high and 30 lights each. One of the beautiful lamps that hang from the largest dome, the second in size, is a masterpiece by the goldsmith Diego Larios, it was premiered on Corpus Christi in 1751, it is a work they call Mestiza because it is made of silver with gold overlays, he maintains 42 lights. It has other sets of candlesticks and lecterns, being one of exquisite workmanship, bronze candlesticks with their sets of pedestals,
paxes,
scepters, 6 rods for the
pallium, salvillas, pitchforks, gold
thuribles among other things. The
monstrance that serves the day of Corpus and circular jubilee, is made of gold, almost a meter high with a multitude of
diamonds and
emeralds on each side, it was released on June 1, 1727. There is another gold one of about a meter high, it is made of gold of various shades and is mounted with pearls, emeralds, diamonds, topazes, amethysts and garnets, it was premiered in September 1803, the work of
Antonio de Villafañe.
Francisco Javier Clavijero in his
Description of the City of Puebla de los Ángeles speaks of some of these pieces: Among the sacred vessels, two gold ones stand out, as well as a
monstrance, made by José Inzunza. An elegant tenebrio of 5 and a half meters high in
ebony wood richly adorned with silver, the work of José Mariano Castillo. ==Schedules==