Biblioteca Palafoxiana: The First Public Library in the Americas

Puebla City holds what is heaven to literature lovers. It’s the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, the library holding the oldest collection of antique books in Mexico and the Americas. It’s located on the top floor of the Antiguo Colegio de San Juan. It was founded by bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza in 1646, who donated 5,000 books from his personal collection.

The collection currently contains over 45,000 books printed in the colonial eras of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Subject matter includes law, history, medicine, architecture, hagiography, and miscellaneous tomes about colonial life after Mexico gained its independence.

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On the shelves you’ll find wonders such as Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle, the incunabulum printed in 1493, and Joseph Galeatium’s Historia Botánica Práctica from 1761.