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1575
It took 74 years and three Spanish kings, and the work stopped for years
Construction began on 18 November 1575. Seventy-four years passed before the consecration, during the reigns of three successive kings of Spain: Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV. By 1624 the work was completely suspended, and it stayed that way until Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza arrived in July 1640.
Palafox
A new bishop found it half built and raised money from all of Puebla
When Palafox arrived, he found the temple built only up to half of the pillars, with no arch or vault begun. He ran a fundraising campaign that included the entire society of Puebla and gave his own inheritance. The workforce of 1,500 officers and peons was supervised by him every week. The cathedral was consecrated on 18 April 1649 without being completely finished: the towers were missing.
The towers
Its two towers were the highest in the American colonies
The north tower, the only one with bells, was finished in 1678. The south tower was built later, in 1731, and opened on 29 September 1768. Both are 70 meters high, which made them the highest in the American colonies. The heaviest bell, the Campana María, is the subject of a famous legend that angels raised it and held it in place. In fact it was raised on Saint Mark's day in 1732 by Juan Bautista Santiago, the master in charge of the works.
1688
The dome of the Altar of the Kings is a rare tempera painting from 1688
The Altar of the Kings takes its name from the images of holy kings and queens in the side niches of its reredos. Its dome was painted in 1688 by Cristóbal de Villalpando, for Bishop Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz. It is one of the few tempera paintings preserved in Mexico. In the pendentives, Villalpando painted four Jewish heroines: Judith, Ruth, Esther and Jael.
The Cypress
The main altar took twenty years, and the crypt doors open once a year
The old tabernacle was demolished on 1 September 1799 to make the new main altar, called the Cypress. Manuel Tolsá made the plan and model, and José Manzo took over the direction. It was blessed on 5 December 1819. It rises 17.50 meters and has 16 fluted Corinthian columns. Four small doors at its base lead to the crypts of the bishops. They are only opened on 2 November, All Souls' Day.
Day 1, morning
Next is Palafoxiana Library.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Puebla Cathedral, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.