Episode 7: Cholula Temples and Churches
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
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Puebla or Next
Oaxaca
January 23
2014
The first Spanish
reports back from their visit in 1519 to Cholula, just 15 km west of
present day Puebla, were misinterpreted. Instead of almost 400 towers,
the words were interpreted to mean 365 temples. Cortés spent his time in
Cholula killing most of the inhabitant, destroying temples and replacing
them with churches. There are now 39 churches in Cholula which is still
a huge number for the area. The biggest church, Nuestra Señora de los
Remedios, was built on a forested hilltop in 1574-5, which unknown to
the Spaniards, was really a pyramid. Pirámide Tepanapa AKA
Tlachihualtepetl AKA the Great Pyramid of Cholula is now a UNESCO World
Heritage site. It is one of the largest pyramids in the world, at 55
meters tall with a base that measures over 396 meters on each side. One
theory is that Tepanapa was covered by a volcanic eruption which caused
the temple to be abandoned, although people still lived in the area. In
fact, Cholula is the longest occupied city in Mexico.
We had a day tour to visit Tepanapa and two
churches. This was our second visit to Cholula and this time we toured
with an informative local guide, which made a big difference. Tepanapa
is actually 6 flat topped temples built one on top of the other every 52
years between 200BC and 800AD and is dedicated to the deity
Quetzalcoatl. The architecture is similar to the temples we have visited
in El Tajín and Teotihuacan. Rather than try to uncover the temple,
archaeologists constructed 8 km of tunnels in 1931 underneath in order
to map and model the interior structure. Only about 88M of the tunnels
are open to the public. We walked along arched passage ways which were
just high enough for a six-footer to walk without stooping and wide
enough to accommodate narrow rail tracks which were ued to carry our
debris when the tunnels were built. Along the way we could see stepped
tunnels leading to upper and lower levels. It was quite a fascinating
operation to see.
Outside the temple is the huge Patio de los
Altares, named for its seven altars, used for religious ceremonies,
including some that involved human sacrifice. During the colonial
period, the pyramid was severely damaged on its north side in order to
build the Camino Real to Puebla and a later hospital, now abandoned. The
west was damaged later with the installation of a rail line.
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, on top of
Tepanapa, is a major pilgrimage site. Its altar is laminated with
24-carat gold leaf and the walls are decorated in Mexican Baroque style.
That means they covered with cherubs, angels and saints in the bright
colours Mexicans like. The church was struck and damaged by lightning
several times, which the idigenous attributed to the old goddess getting
even for destroying the original temple.
Before setting off to see our second church, we stopped at a shop
selling Mezcal, similar to Tequila, for a tasting. It was tasty enough,
but not enough to buy a bottle.
I thought Nuestra Señora de los Remedios was
ornate until we visited Sta Maria Tonantzintla, the Place
of Our Lady Mother, 8 km away from Cholula. The front
entrance was clad in pink and blue tiles and the interior was beyond
belief baroque, mixing the pre-Hispanic world with the Spanish Christian
world. The walls were encrusted in images sporting feathers, fruits and
flowers and other decorations from the floor to the ceiling. It was too
much to take in one sitting.
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