page_title: Cholula, Puebla
section_title: Churches
hierarchical_section_title: Cholula, Puebla / Churches
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the main church of the the former monastery of San Gabriel in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico
context_page_description: Cholula, officially Cholula de Rivadavia is a city and district located in the center west of the state of Puebla, near Puebla City, in central Mexico. Cholula is best known for its Great Pyramid, with the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios sanctuary on top, as well as its numerous churches. The city and district are divided into two, San Pedro Cholula and San Andrés Cholula, which together are officially called the Distrito Cholula de Rivadavia. Surrounding the city proper is a number of more rural communities which belong to the municipalities of San Andrés and San Pedro. The city itself is divided into eighteen neighborhoods or barrios, each with a patron saint. This division has pre-Hispanic origins as does the division into two municipalities. The city is unified by a complicated system of shared religious responsibilities, called cargas, which function mostly to support a very busy calendar of saints' days and other festivals which occur in one part or another almost all year round. The most important of these festivals is that dedicated to the Virgin of the Remedies, the patron of the city in its entirety, which occurs at the beginning of September.
context_section_description: It is said that the city of Cholula has 365 churches, either one for each day of the year or one for each pre-Hispanic temple that used to be there. In reality, there are only thirty seven churches; 159, if all the small chapels including those on local haciendas and ranches are counted. One legend states that the first chapel to be built in Cholula was in the San Miguelito neighborhood on what is now the outskirts of the city. It was the first structure with a red tile roof, and it was dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is said to have contained an image of the angel, which contained inside a small demon tied to a post. As people venerated the image of the archangel, they also acknowledged the demon, in case the angel decided not to hear their pleas. This eventually gave the chapel an evil reputation as more came to ask for favors from the demon, favors that one would not ask of a saint or angel. The demon began to be blamed for misfortunes that befell in the area, as, the legend said, when they occurred, the demon image would be found untied. Eventually, the image of the archangel with the demon inside was taken away and eventually disappeared.
  The architectural styles of these churches vary from Gothic to Renaissance to Churrigueresque and Neoclassical, with many mixing elements of two or more. A number also have Talavera tile as a decorative feature, which is common in Puebla. A few have intricate stucco work done by indigenous hands. These churches together contain more than 300 works of art from the 16th to 19th centuries, which have a total value of millions of dollars. Increases in the theft of religious art have led to a number of measures being taken to protect them. Over a decade ago, churches were routinely open during the week, but now many are not. When they are open, many have at least one guard on duty, or in the case of the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios church, video surveillance. Some churches put replicas of the works on display, such as in the friary of San Gabriel. Some do not permit photographs or video of the church interiors.
  Various church steeples in the city fell during the 2017 Puebla earthquake.
  Most of the rest of the city's churches date from the 17th to the 19th centuries and many of them are parish churches which belong to the various neighborhoods or barrios of the city proper. However, there are also several important churches in the smaller communities of the two municipalities just outside the urban area. The Parish of San Pedro is the parish church for the San Pedro municipality. It was built in the 17th century and is located facing the main square of the city. The style is a mixture of Baroque and Renaissance, with a Churrigueresque cupola.  Other important churches of the San Pedro municipality include the parishes of San Miguel Tianguishhahuatl, Jesus Tlatempa, Santiago Mixquitla, San Matias Cocoyotla, San Juan Texpolco, San Cristóbal Tepontla, San Juan Texpolco, Santa Maria Xixitla, La Magdalena Coapa, San Pedro Mexicaltzingo, San Pablo Tecama, Santa Cruz de Jerusalén, Santo Sepulcro and San Miguelito.
  The parish church of the San Andrés municipality was begun in the first third of the 16th century and finished in the first half of the 17th. The main façade is made of gray sandstone with three levels on which is a very large image of the Apostle Andrew, crucified on an X. The first contains the main entrance into the building, which is a simple arch with spandrels decorated with flowers. Just outside the door, there is a holy water font which is probably from the 16th century. The doorway niches contain images of San Bernardino and San Antonio, which was not common during the colonial period. The interior has only one nave as it was constructed in the 16th century. On the left side, there is a chapel of the Virgin of Solitude, which was constructed in the middle of the 18th century. It contains a Churrigueresque altar, with highly decorated pilasters. The decoration on the cupolas were done in the second half of the 18th century and redone at the end of the 19th. This chape
caption: Facade of the main church of the San Gabriel monastery
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