Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies at Cholula

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies occupies one of Mexico’s most visually and historically layered sacred settings: the summit of the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Puebla. The federal Cultural Information System records the beginning of a modest hermitage in 1594. The building suffered major damage in the earthquake of 1864 and was subsequently reconstructed, with the rebuilt church blessed in 1874.

Its later architecture includes classical and Baroque elements, while the elevated position gives the sanctuary a commanding place in the modern Cholula landscape. The church is dedicated to Nuestra Señora de los Remedios and remains an active Catholic site of Marian devotion. Its significance, however, is inseparable from the pre-Hispanic monument beneath it.

The Great Pyramid had its own long ceremonial history before the Spanish colonial period, so the hill embodies successive religious traditions rather than a simple replacement narrative. Templestan should avoid unsupported claims that one faith definitively “overcame” another and instead describe the documented coexistence of an ancient archaeological monument and a later Catholic sanctuary.

Visitors normally reach the church by ascending the hill above the archaeological zone, making the site valuable both for worship and for understanding the complex religious history of Cholula.