General Description
City of Cholula is located just west of the state capital of Puebla and is part of its metropolitan area. The city is divided into two municipalities called San Pedro Cholula and San Andrés Cholula, which also include a number of smaller communities that surround the main city. The main plaza of the city is located in the municipality of San Pedro Cholula, but the Great Pyramid, located only a few blocks away, is located in San Andrés Cholula. Of the two divisions, San Andrés is more residential and has the higher indigenous population. The city together is officially called the Distrito Cholula de Rivadavia. It was created in 1895 and named in honor of Bernardino de Rivadavia.
Since the early colonial period, the city has been organized into eighteen barrios or neighborhoods. The pre-Hispanic city had official neighborhoods, called capullis, which the Spanish reorganized around parish churches, each with a patron saint. The official chronicler of the city, however, still refers to the neighborhoods by their pre-Hispanic term. Eight of the barrios are located in the municipality of San Andrés and ten are located in San Pedro. The neighborhoods of San Pedro Cholula are San Miguel Tianguisnahuac, Jesús Tlatempa, Santiago Mixquitla, San Matias Cocoyotla, San Juan Calvario Texpolco, San Cristóbal Tepontla, Santa María Xixitla, La Magdalena Coapa, San Pedro Mexicaltzingo and San Pablo Tecama. The neighborhoods of San Andres Cholula are San Miguel Xochimehuacan, Santiago Xicotenco, San Pedro Colomoxco, Santa María Coaco, La Santísima, San Juan Aquiahuac, San Andresito and Santo Niño. Most of these barrios have a patron saint’s name prefix before an indigenous name, which remains from the pre-Hispanic period. The neighborhoods closest to the center are urbanized, with those on the edges of the city maintaining more of their rural character, with economies based on agriculture and brick making. The main unifying factor of these neighborhoods and municipalities is a complicated system of social events, which are sponsored in rotation among the various barrios. Many Cholutecans still use their pre-Hispanic surnames, such as former town stewards Raymundo Tecanhuehue and Humberto Tolama Totozintle. This is because a number of the old Indian nobility was allowed certain privileges after the Conquest.
The city is located on flat plains of the Valley of Puebla, with Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl visible to the west. Like the city of Puebla, it has a straight street grid oriented to the cardinal directions. Most streets in the center are numbered with indications as to their location vis-à-vis the center, north, east, south or west. On the city periphery, street names lose this system. In the center of this grid is the main square of the city which is called the Plaza de la Concordia or sometimes the Zocalo. In the morning, this plaza is filled with vendors selling typical street food, sweets and handcrafted toys for children. On the west side of the plaza, there is the city hall, which was built over the former Xiuhcalli (House of Turquoise) where a council of nobles met during pre-Hispanic times. This government building is fronted by a line of businesses, which in turn are fronted by a 170 metres (560 ft) gallery, marked by 46 arches supported by Doric columns, called the “portales.” This archway is the longest of its kind in Latin America.
On the east side of the main plaza is the 16th century monastery of San Gabriel, with its very large atrium, Capilla Real (Royal Chapel), Capilla de la Tercera Orden (Chapel of the Third Order), tall main church and Franciscan Library. Its cloister is still inhabited by about fifteen Franciscan monks. On the north side, there is the Parish of San Pedro, built in the 17th century. On another side of the plaza, one of the oldest residential structures in the Cholula area, called the Casa del Caballero Aguilar (House of the Eagle Knight) was converted into the Museo de la Ciudad de Cholula (Cholula City Museum). This museum was opened in September 2001, after a renovation project beginning in 1997 restored interior and exterior features such as stone sculptures as well as the original floor plan. The museum is a joint project of the city, INAH and the Universidad de las Americas Puebla. The museum traces the history of Cholula from about 1000 BCE through five rooms. The first three contain pre-Hispanic artifacts and the last two contain pieces and exhibitions related to the colonial period including religious art. The rooms also contain elements which recreate aspects of a colonial era home. The basis of the museum’s collection is a group of about 1,500 artifacts from Omar Jimenez, from both the pre-Hispanic and colonial eras. There is also an area dedicated to photography of the city’s religious festivals, and laboratories dedicated to the restoration of excavated objects.
Because of the student population associated with the Universidad de las Américas, and the area’s popularity with tourists, the city has a lively nightclub and bar scene, mostly concentrated around the main plaza and in a part of the San Andrés municipality. The bars and clubs in San Andres mostly cater to students while the ones in the center cater for a more varied crowd. This also includes a line of strip clubs along Avenida 14 Oeste between 5 de Mayo and Calle 2 Norte. Some of these establishments include Unit, Bar-Restaurant Enamorada, La Casa del Mojito and Jazzatlán Café. However, the city is quiet during the week when these establishments are closed.
As the modern city is built over what was a major pre-Hispanic metropolis, a large part of the area has been designated as an archeological heritage site. However, only six of the 154 hectares (380 acres) declared as such have been investigated as most of the land is privately owned. This includes the Pyramid and some areas under streets where water pipes and sewerage have been modernized. There is opposition to further exploration by many residents as they are concerned that the excavation will cause inconvenience, expropriation of their lands or that the excavated areas will be subject to vandalism.
Read more about this topic: Cholula, Puebla, City Makeup and Non Religious Landmarks
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