Marvel at the splendor of its elegant colonial buildings, streets and flavors that live up to its nickname "City Of the Angels".
A legend is responsible for this beautiful city being known as Puebla de los Angeles.
The construction of the Dean's house began in 1575 and was finished in 1580; it is an example of the Renaissance ornamentation of the 16th century due to its façade, columns, cornices, pediments and pinnacles.
A dean was the religious position below the bishop in the Cathedral of Puebla, which is why the property was so distinctive. The construction of the Renaissance style house belonged to Don Tomás de la Plaza Goes.
Inside you can find two rooms that preserve a treasure: Renaissance murals painted by indigenous tlacuilos from Tlaxcala, Cholula and the Oaxacan Mixteca.
The murals were discovered in 1953, when the house that occupied almost an entire block was sold to the company Impulsores de Cine Independientes, so in 1955 a group of artists prevented the demolition of the two rooms by pointing out that it was a cultural treasure, a kind of Sistine Chapel of Puebla.
The first room is known as the Sibyls' room, on whose walls were carved women on horses known as sibyls, who were considered fortune tellers of Greek and Roman antiquity, who predicted the life, passion, death and resurrection of Christ.
One of the sibyls is only 19 years old, another is Tiburtina at 22 years of age; both reflecting biblical passages.
The second room is Los Triunfos, where a poem by Francesco Pretarca, Los Triunfos, is recreated in praise of love, chastity, time, death and fame.
In one of them it is possible to see a cart pulled by oxen, which alludes to the triumph of death, which in its path runs over rich, poor, monarchs and clergymen.
The Casa del Deán houses frescoes of unique and incalculable artistic value, as well as centuries of history of a family that lived within its walls for generations. The part that is still preserved today is a museum administered by the INAH.
There are 2 rooms left intact in the Dean's house of what was once the Spanish domination of the entity.
The first preserved room:
1. It is La Sibilina, so called because of its walls decorated with representations of the women who received from the god Apollo the gift of prophecy and divination, known as Sibyls.
Here we observe with delight a cavalcade full of color and plastic beauty; the Sibyls ride splendid steeds and wear luxurious dresses in the style of the sixteenth century: Eritrea, Samia, Persia, Europe, Cumea, Tiburtina, Cumana, Delphic, Helespontica, Italica and Egiptia parade before our eyes, who according to a pious tradition prophesied about the coming and the passion of Jesus Christ.
It is worth remembering that these women were painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.
The cavalcade is set against a backdrop of presumably European landscapes. The Sibyls are accompanied by a multitude of tiny characters, as well as a wide variety of animals: rabbits, monkeys, deer, tigers and birds.
Elaborate borders depicting fruits, plants, women' centaurs, children with wings, exotic birds and vases with flowers were painted on the upper and lower parts of the scenes described.
2. The room of the triumphs, in this space was the bedroom of the dean Don Tomás de la Plaza, and when contemplating in its walls representations of The Triumphs, work in verse of Petrarca, we realize the refined culture that the priest possessed.
The Triumphs were written in hendecasyllabic tercets and are an allegory not only of Petrarch's love for Laura, but also of the human condition. Broadly speaking, the poem shows the triumph of Love over men, but it is defeated by Death, over whom Fame triumphs, defeated in turn by Time, which yields to Divinity.
On the four walls of the room these ideas of the poem are recreated plastically as a fact more for reflection than for simple amusement.
As in the room of La Sibilina, in the room of Los Triunfos we find all the scenes framed with elegant friezes filled with animals, vegetal motifs, women's faces, infantile fauns and children with wings. In both rooms the murals were painted with the tempera technique by anonymous skilled artists.
The murals of the Casa del Deán were painted with the tempera technique by anonymous artists. They have an intrinsic value not only because of their great beauty, but also because it is a unique work in Latin America.
There is only one other house with similar murals in Tunja, department of Boyacá in Colombia. An incomparable marvel of which the people of Puebla should feel proud.
Dirección: C. 16 de Septiembre 505, Centro histórico de Puebla, 72000 Puebla, Pue.
More Official Info: Visit Puebla
Marvel at the splendor of its elegant colonial buildings, streets and flavors that live up to its nickname "City Of the Angels".
A legend is responsible for this beautiful city being known as Puebla de los Angeles.
The country is a land of contrasts. It has it all: a rich history and culture, a warm and pleasant climate, a varied geography, an impressive nature, a tasteful gastronomy and a friendly and helpful population ... in short: Mexico can fulfill all your wishes!