Source: The News, México City, September 2, 2000.
CHOLULA'S CHURCHES AFFIRMATIONS OF FAITH BELIE A BLOODY HISTORY
By ANTHONY WRIGHT, The News Staff Reporter
It is said that in the Cholula area there are 365 churches, one for each day of the year. That's not entirely accurate. But the town, 10 km west of Puebla, does contain at least 40 churches (which is a heck of a lot, when you think about it); while the neighboring villages of Tonantzintla and Acatepec also contribute to the old legend with examples of the tile and stucco designs for which the entire region of Puebla - 130 kms southeast of Mexico City - is world famous.
The legend of the churches dates back to the time of the Conquistador Hernan Cortes. At the request of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, Cortes and his men traveled to Cholula - unaware that the Aztecs were in turn preparing an ambush outside the city.
When it became apparent that hostile intentions were afoot, Cortes launched the Cholula Massacre, and more than 6,000 Cholulans were slaughtered (out of a population in 1519 of 100,000). The Spaniards' Tlaxcalan allies then sacked the city.
Ironically, following this horrendously bloody episode, Cortes is said to have announced his "church-for-each-day" plan -- or at the very least the order to build a Christian church upon the smoldering ruins of every pagan temple that could be found in the area. Was it in atonement for their sins? Who knows, but they sure got to work.
The Spaniards started with the Great Pyramid. The church is there now but so, too, is the pyramid -- the largest in the Americas.
The Great Pyramid of Cholula is also larger in volume (425 meters square, 60 meters high) than the Cheops Pyramid in Egypt. Its existence is the main reason people visit Cholula. But while the visitor today may embark on several fascinating walks through the structure -- via a series a tunnels originally constructed throughout it -- the pyramid itself is not a great visual attraction. On first arriving to the site, one may be forgiven for thinking that the structure resembles little more than a large triangular hill.
Many of the churches in the locality are, however, a great draw.
The architectural style of the state of Puebla, which has been used to great effect in the design and construction of its buildings and particularly its churches, derives from a combination of elements peculiar to the region. The use of local tiles for church domes and red brick for building facades dates back to the 17th century. A number of the tiles feature Arabic patterns, and stucco was adapted from local gray stone and carved into a variety of ornamentations for church interiors.
Local indigenous influence on the stucco work especially highlights the merging of two distinct religious cultures: Aztec and Christian. The result has been a spectularly prolific mix of stucco saints and demons, crosses, and the ubiquitous indigenous imagery of flowers and birds.
Besides the Aztec culture prevalent at the time of Cholula's vanquishing, the city -- built around the dawn of Christianity's birth -- also absorbed over the centuries the cultures of the Olmec, Toltec and Chichimec peoples; as well as the artistic contributions of the Mixtecs.
Several excellent churches can be visited within the vicinity of Cholula's zocalo. At the site of the San Gabriel Monastery there are three churches: San Gabriel, which dates from 1530 and was also constructed on the site of a demolished pyramid; the Capilla Real, built in 1540 and boasting 49 domes constructed in Arabic style; and the Tercer Orden, built in the 17th century.
Numerous smaller churches -- or parroquias -- are dotted throughout Cholula; a nice example is the church of San Pedro, located north of the zocalo.
The village church of Santa Maria in Tonantzintla, four km south of Cholula, is one of the most beautiful in the region, with an amazing stucco interior that provides an ideal example of how local indigenous sculptors interpreted themes in Christianity.
And the church of San Francisco in Acatepec, a kilometer and a half southeast of Tonanzintla, utilizes yellow and blue Puebla tiles against red brick facades to excellent effect.
Mexican architecture elicits its share of fame in the world as much for the miracles worked in its colonial buildings and churches, as for the noble wonders of its pre-Hispanic cities. It is a shared history of two distinct cultures -- the Old World and the New -- meeting head-on in historically shattering clashes, and it is a history steeped in blood and tragedy.
Yet the phoenixes of art and architecture have risen from these ashes of conflict, to offer beauty and provoke astonishment. Cholula and its environs -- an easy day trip from Mexico City (and a snap from Puebla) -- should be on the itinerary of any traveler making her/his way through Puebla state.
Buses run both ways from TAPO station in Mexico City to Puebla via Cholula daily; from Puebla, local buses leave frequently to Cholula from Avenida 4 Pte and take 20 minutes.
Source: Antony Wright, The News Staff Reporter