A “recovered” tour
The Lavaderos de Almoloya are located in the San Francisco neighborhood: the center of the foundation of the city of Puebla in 1531. Through a tunnel that is located in the Los Leones fountain, you can admire how the water that crosses below the city. This passageway is the one that connects with the 120 sinks.
Leaving the laundries until reaching the hotel patio, there is a second tunnel to reach the Trinitarias Garden, where ancient human remains were found on May 31, pieces under the protection of INAH, but there are still remains of Blessed Sebastian’s room of Aparicio.
This tunnel was occupied in recent years by hotel guests for weddings and events, as they could sleep in this space and cross underneath to the garden managed by another individual where masses were officiated and parties were held.
(Photo: Government of Puebla)
Currently, a chapel that was improvised is also being dismantled, because according to the director of Movable and Real Estate, Igor Emilio Ferrer Acuña, it was built near the underground space and was really a cistern, so the water invades the structure.
The Trinitarias Garden connects to the ex-convent and chapel of San Francisco, also from the 16th century. Alejandro Montiel, curator of the recovered spaces and historian, explains that Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio Prado had a room in this area, who was a Spanish Franciscan religious who arrived in Puebla during the conquest.
(Photo: Government of Puebla)
The entire route of the 8,000 square meters rescued, which is intended to be a tourist route, ends at Plaza de La Madre, located at 4 Oriente and 14 Norte, an area that was also occupied by a restaurant as a private parking lot.
As part of the reactivation, the state government is in the process of developing an application for cell phones that allows them to digitally tour the spaces of the Franciscan vestiges and thus get an idea of what it was like before, once the spaces reopen to be visited and continue the tourist route project.
