Draft:Regional Museum of Cholula

The Cholula Regional Museum, in the municipality of San Andrés Cholula, is a public cultural institution. It is located next to the great pyramid of Cholula and in the archaeological zone of Cholula. This museum has among its exhibition rooms a wide variety of collections ranging from pre-Hispanic art, vice-regal art, and contemporary art to popular art (The museum is not to be confused with the Cholula Site Museum, located two blocks away.

Opened on January 23, 2017, the Cholula Regional Museum was part of a tourism development project in the municipalities of San Andrés Cholula and San Pedro Cholula carried out to qualify for the designation as a Magic Town. The word Cholula derives from the Nahuatl word cholollan, which means "where flowing water abounds."

History of the property

The establishment of a psychiatric hospital at the foot of the great pyramid of Cholula, Tlachihualtepetl, took place as part of an agreement made between Rita Canelo and the Hospitaller order of San Juan de Dios, known as the "Juaninos". The son of the Widow de Rejón suffered from a mental illness that prevented him from living normally and required medical attention. However, at that time in Puebla there were no psychiatric institutions, so his mother acquired land at the foot of Tlachihualtepetl and in agreement with the original order of Granada, Spain, they built the sanatorium. It was inaugurated in 1910 – a year recorded in an inscription on the belfry of the building – with the blessing of the Archbishop of Puebla, Don José Ramón Ibarra y González, thus beginning 103 years of service provided by this important institution. The hospital was named "Sanatorio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe", being the first of its kind in the state of Puebla. The hospital remained in operation from 1910 to 2013.

The building’s style was derived from the late Porfirian era, being built in the French style: iron windows and columns, Catalan vaults, large gardens, use of balustrades in hallways and terraces, finishings on facades with flower pots as ornaments, among other decorative elements. Over the years, funded by donations, eight pavilions in total were built on the property. Framed to the east, west and south by thick adobe walls, this imposing building is located in part of the structure of the great pyramid.

The Juanino brothers traditionally offered care through prayers, appropriate activities, rest, meditation, reflection, and a particular therapy. In the first patio, a bell still hangs that was used to indicate to the sick the times of meal, prayers, and other activities. Decades later, professional doctors would join. It is known that the Juanino patients were self-sufficient in many aspects, since they maintained small farms with cows, chickens, pigs, etc., as well as orchards with fruit trees and plants of different varieties (avocado, grapefruit, lemon, guava, peach, apple, pomegranate, orange, aloe vera, rosemary, lavender, tomato, potatoes, corn, etc.).

The Juanino sanatorium had to close down at times during national crises, including at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution and during the Cristero War. Sometime later, the property became an important place for the region, a reference site, which gradually became incorporated into the collective imagination of Cholulteca and Puebla.

With the advance of psychiatry, therapies, and drugs, it was possible for many of the patients to be reincorporated into their families and social lives, leaving the confinement and possibly controversial treatments of the “insane asylum”. To a large extent, the departure of patients and the difficulties in sustaining institutions of such magnitude led to their eventual closure. Some of them managed to be redesignated for other purposes.

In this case, the sanatorium was repurposed into a cultural institution, the Cholula Regional Museum, which has turned out to a be very timely development, and currently indispensable for the arduous task of shaping the historical identity of the communities of Cholula through different strategies.

Today our museum is part of the Decentralized Public Organization “Museos Puebla”, dependent on the Secretariat of Culture of the government of the State of Puebla.

Permanent Exhibition Halls

Valley of the Volcanoes

This is a room that reveals the orographic diversity of the Puebla-Tlaxcala region; first, outlining the geographical space crowned by the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes; second, explaining the geological history that has shaped the Sierra Nevada and the colossi that dominate it as well as the vital relationship they have with the different human settlements in the region - impacting culture and science – in terms of archaeoastronomy.

Cholula Crossroads

This room describes the importance of pre-Hispanic Cholula as a regional center and trade and tribute route for various Mesoamerican people. Here, various archaeological pieces are exhibited, not only from Cholula, but from a large part of the country and from various periods. Pieces from the preclassic to the postclassic Mesoamerican period are exhibited, as well as an interactive digital section dedicated to the Mexica pantheon in which various gods are shown.

Viceregal: 16th to 18th centuries

This room contains a collection of paintings that spans the 16th to 18th centuries. Mainly of religious themes, they tell us about the process of evangelization of various Mesoamerican peoples and guide us through the viceregal populations such as that of ancient Cholula.

The Tlachihualtépetl, the Origins

In this room, various archaeological pieces from the Cholula region are shown – among which a large ceramic collection stands out. With the support of audiovisual material, the first human settlements in the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley are shown, in addition to the origins of Tlachihualtépetl – a handmade hill – and the various construction stages of what is the largest pyramid (both in area and base) in the world.

Tollan Cholollan, The Resurgence

This room tells the story of the migrations of people of Olmec Xicalanga and Toltec Chichimeca origin who brought prosperity and development to the city of Cholula, turning it into a ceremonial center, a place of pilgrimages, as well as an important commercial center. This sacred city, to this day, continues to be a place of deep ancestral traditions and customs, historically linked to the adaptation of the millennia-old pre-Columbian cults that became the current Catholic Christianity. The life-size replica of the Quauhquechollan Cloth painting stands out.

Alebrijes Room

Here colorful crafts are displayed showing artistic pieces called alebrijes, part of the collection of the family of Pedro Linares, the creator of the alebrijes made of cardboard. The second section of the room is dedicated to the alebrijes of copal wood, traditional from some Oaxacan regions, each of the pieces emerging from the modern Mexican imagination. They are fantastic figures constructed using Mexican artisanal and manufacturing traditions.

Popular art of the State of Puebla

In this room, visitors will see a magnificent selection of masterpieces from the 32 regions of the State of Puebla, made by Puebla artisans, reflecting a broad panorama of manufacturing that includes various crafts, decorative arts, and other creations made throughout the Puebla territory. The room is divided by theme. In one section the kitchen utensils are concentrated, coming from different regions of the state, while in the second section, pieces of a religious nature such as the "Altar of Sorrows" are exhibited. Thirdly are examples of the decorative arts, and the fourth section is related to the Huejotzingo carnival and other festive dances. The next section is related to the celebration of the Day of the Dead and funeral rites, and the sixth part of the room is dedicated to textiles and the various techniques used in their creation as well as their symbolism. Finally, the seventh section displays Talavera pottery and the Talavera techniques as well as some innovations in this art. Some samples of feather art are also found in this room.

Gallery (Juaninos Room)

This space is devoted to the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios, founder of the property and the hospital under the name “Sanatorium of Our Lady of Guadalupe”, dedicated exclusively to the care of the mentally ill. Part of the important history of psychiatric medicine in Mexico is also presented.​