San Andrés Cholula is a municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla. It forms part of the Metropolitan area of Puebla, and as of 2011, it is the fastest-growing municipality that conforms the Metropolitan Area, partly because the presence of universities and the wealthiest neighborhoods (The "Angelópolis" Zone) are located in San Andrés Cholula. Along with San Pedro Cholula and Santa Isabel Cholula, it conforms the most ancient still inhabited city in the Americas, Cholula de Rivadabia.

The municipality as part of Cholula de Rivadavia

As part of the district San Andrés Cholula is one of two municipalities which made up the city of Cholula, Puebla, officially called the Distrito Cholula de Rivadavia. Culturally and socially, the two halves are one city, but the city's political division into two municipalities: San Andrés Cholula and San Pedro Cholula, has its roots in the pre-Hispanic period. San Andrés encompasses the city and some more rural areas outside of it from the Great Pyramid of Cholula on east. The center for the entire city of Cholula is considered to be in the municipality of San Pedro Cholula, where the large Plaza de la Concordancia and the monastery of San Gabriel are. As part of the same city, the two municipalities share a number of common features. Both are located on the flat plains of the Valley of Puebla, with Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl visible to the west. Like the city of Puebla, both sides have a straight street grid oriented to the cardinal directions. Most streets in the center are numbered with indications as to their location vis-à-vis the center, north, east, south or west. On the city periphery, street names lose this system. Both contain traditional Mexican markets and tianguis in which women can be found seated on the floor selling seeds, flowers, herbs and more. One food specialty is a cold drink made with chocolate and water, whipped until foamy served in wooden bowls with flowers painted on them. Other traditional foods here include Cholulteca soup, cecina with chili pepper strips and queso de canasta cheese, a type of edible larvae called cueclas, and "orejas de elefante" (elephant ears) which is an enormous tortilla with beans inside and salsa, cheese and cheese outside. Many Cholutecans still use their pre-Hispanic surnames, such as former town stewards Raymundo Tecanhuehue and Humberto Tolama Totozintle. This is because a number of the indigenous nobility was allowed certain privileges after the Conquest.

Urban area

Eight of the city's eighteen traditional barrios or neighborhoods are located in San Andrés. The division of the city into barrios, and into two halves, began in the pre Hispanic period. However, after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the barrios were reorganized around parish churches, each given a patron saint. The San Andrés barrios are San Miguel Xochimehuacan, Santiago Xicotenco, San Pedro Colomoxco, Santa María Coaco, La Santísima, San Juan Aquiahuac, San Andresito and Santo Niño. Most of these barrios have a patron saint's name prefix before an indigenous name, which remains from the pre-Hispanic period. The neighborhoods closest to the center are urbanized, with those on the edges of the city maintaining more of their rural character, with economies based on agriculture and brick making. The unity of the city is maintained via a complicated system of social events and sponsorship to pay for them, which is rotated around the various barrios.

Most of what distinguishes San Andrés from San Pedro is its historically indigenous character. The division began in the latter pre Hispanic period after the Toltecs and Chichimecas conquered the city in the 13th century. They pushed the subdued Olmec-Xicallans to the east of the city. They also built a new temple to Quetzacoatl, where the San Gabriel monastery is now, leaving the Great Pyramid of Cholula as the religious focus of the southern part of the city. During the colonial period, San Andrés would remain mostly indigenous and relatively isolated economically while San Pedro's population became mestizo quickly. Today, San Andrés is still more residential and has a higher percentage of indigenous than San Pedro. As of 2005, there were 1,845 people who spoke an indigenous language in San Andrés, with the population growing from 45, 872 to 80,118 people from 1990 to 2005. Over ninety percent of the population identifies as Catholic with less than four percent identifying as Evangelical or Protestant.

Although the Cholula Pyramid and the San Gabriel monastery are only blocks from each other, the Pyramid is part of San Andrés, marking the beginning of this municipality. Because of the Cholula pyramid archeological site and because a number of streets on the San Andrés side are too narrow to permit vehicular traffic, the municipality has a mounted police force, with red jackets and hats similar to those of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was created in 1996 and it is the only squad of its type in Mexico. The force has a number of advantages. The horses are permitted to climb the pyramid structure as they cannot damage the ruins underneath. They can access areas of the city cars cannot and they can be used to patrol in small rural areas such as San Rafael, Santa María Tonantzintla and Tehuiloyocan. The municipality states that in addition to security, the squad promotes interaction between the public and the police, and it has been popular with tourists as well.

Landmarks of the urban area

According to legend, the city of Cholula has 365 churches, one for each day of the year or one for each pre Hispanic temple destroyed by the Spanish, depending on the version. In reality there are only 37, 159 if all the small chapels in the local haciendas and ranches are counted. The architectural styles of the churches vary from Gothic to Renaissance to Churrigueresque and Neoclassical, with many mixing elements of two or more of the above. A number also have talavera tile as a decorative feature, which is common in Puebla. A few have intricate stucco work done by indigenous hands. Many of these churches contain artwork from the 16th to 19th centuries valued at millions of dollars. Due to the increase in theft of religious art, many of these churches have extra security and some close during the week.

The best-known church of San Pedro and the entire city of Cholula is the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Sanctuary, whose bells ring each day at midday from atop the Cholula Pyramid. Just before the Spanish arrived, the pyramid was considered to be sacred to a female rain deity called Chiconahuiquiahuita (Nine Rains).Cordero, p14. After finding pre Hispanic idols and other pieces on what seemed to be a hill, monks decided to rededicate it to the Virgin of the Remedies and built this church, beginning in 1594. The Virgin of the Remedies was one of four Virgin Mary images which were used to substitute for pre Hispanic female deities in the cardinal directions from Mexico City. This one was placed in the east, with the Virgin of Guadalupe to the north, the Virgin of Mercy to the south and the "Virgen de la Bala" to the south.Cordero, p 5. The image itself measures 27 centimeters tall, similar to those brought by Hernán Cortés and leading to speculation what it was brought by him, but it was brought by the Franciscans.Cordero, p 6. Originally, the Virgin of the Remedies was associated with the needs of the poor, but the history of the Conquest linked this Virgin Mary image to the conquistadors and would remain so up through the Mexican War of Independence.Cordero, p 9,12. Because of the veneration of the image, as the patroness of Cholula, the pyramid remains a place of pilgrimage for the area. The church has suffered damage on various occasions from lightning strikes and from earthquakes. These lightning strikes in the past were accredited to the old rain goddess. The lightning strikes have caused minor damage, but the earthquakes have been more serious. In 1864, the church was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. It took ten years to rebuild and was re inaugurated in 1873. The next major quake to damage the building came in 1999, which damaged the towers and caused the pilgrims' portal to collapse, with damage to eighty percent of the building.Cordero, p 18.

The atrium cross dates to 1666 and it is the same as found in the Capilla Real and the church at San Miguel Tianguisnahutl. The dome is covered in multicolored tiles. The overall style of the church is Baroque with Neoclassical elements, which is sometimes called "Republican Baroque." The altars are made of wood and plaster painted white and decorated in gold leaf. There is also gold leaf on the vaults and walls. It contains oil paintings such as those depicting the birth of the Virgin Mary, the Announcement to the Virgin Mary, Mary and Joseph, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sculptures include those of the Archangel Michael on the main altar, Diego de Alcalá, and Salvador of Horta.Cordero, p 20. The cupola contains images of the four doctors of the Church: Jeronimo, Gregory, Ambrose and Augustine, as well as images of John Duns Scot, Bonaventure, Bernard of Siena, and Anthony of Padua. There are also allegories representing Justice, Faith and Virtue. The vaults contains images related to the saying of the Rosary.Cordero, p 21.

The parish of San Andrés is what remains of a Franciscan church and monastery which was founded shortly after the founding of the much larger Franciscan monastery of San Gabriel. By the second half of the 16the century, the need for a second Franciscan monastery in the city was discussed because even though the San Gabriel monastery was large, it was insufficient to reach the mostly indigenous population of the San Andrés side, only a league away. According to records from a monk named Agustin de Vetancurt, the monastery was authorized in 1557 by of Joanna of Castile, sister of Felipe II. Cholula is the only city other than Mexico City to contain two Franciscan monasteries and probably indicates that the two halves of the city maintained a social and political distinction after the Conquest.

However, the authorization of the second monastery was soon disputed, as it changed created a second pole of power away from the Spanish dominated San Pedro side. Even so, by 1585, the monastery was a very small institution with only two monks. The construction of the complex took decades. Its cost forced the monks to sell some of its land, and the project was viable only because the indigenous of the area provided their labor. The complex was not finished until 1670. Before then, however, the church was given over to regular clergy in 1640. In 1673, the repeated complaints about the monastery's authorization resulted in an order to the Marquis de Mancera to demolish the complex, even though some records indicate there were still Franciscans inhabiting it. Mancera was aware of the royal records related to the institution, so he decided to demolish most of the monastery area and only close down the church, after removing all of the altars and decorative elements. Some years later, the Count of Monclova allowed the church to reopen as the parish of San Andrés in 1686.

During the rest of the colonial period and through the 19th century, the church remained functioning, according to parish records, and still in possession of remaining monastery lands. In the early 20th century, it was decided to renovate the church and lands were sold to raise money. The entrance of the church bears the date of 1930, which the work was concluded. One of the changes was the replacement of the wood flooring to tile. The wood was reused to make benches. In the 1950s, a church school was built and named Miguel Hidalgo, but today the building is used as parish offices. This school was replaced by another built in the 1980s in a different location.