Biblioteca Palafoxiana

Great collection of historic books. Well worth a visit.

Amazing and ancient library founded by a former bishop of Puebla, and extremely wealthy dude, Juan de Palafox.
Today the stunning wooden library houses over 45,000 volumes and is a must visit for any book lover.
Do not miss the included tour that goes into detail about the history of the library and the nature of it's collections.
They also have a very cool "wheel of books" that allows a reader to read seven books simultaneously.

Wow, what an amazing place for the arts! Apart from seeing the oldest public library in the Americas, they have many rooms with free temporary exhibitions, a place to chill out, a Victor Hugo quote supporting the Mexicans in their defense battle against the French, and lots of chairs to chill out. Really nice, underrated space!

This beautiful and atmospheric library does not take long to see and is definitely worth a quick visit both for its architectural details and it's odd classification system which serves as a little window onto the knowledge was categorized many centuries ago.

The oldest public library in the Americas, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a really fascinating visit. I loved looking at the categories and what an amazing collection of books and manuscripts. This could be as fast as a 10 minute visit or an hour (if you want to look at the book titles behind the glass.)

The second public library in the world! Almost 400 years old. Crazy)
Cost 40 pesos. In this building Casa Culture has some cultural activities every Saturday. We were in symphonic orchestra of Puebla. It was very nice music. Thanks a lot!

A lotta history here! Worth taking a look at it!

A pleasant surprise when we were just checking items off the map, and stumbled upon the oldest public library in Americas.

Did not expect to see such a beautiful library. You can tell its long history by just looking at the floor. And wow! those doors.

The library is open Tuesday to Thursday from 10 am to 5 pm/Friday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, the cost is $42 pesos, $21 pesos for children under 12 years old, students, teachers and INAPAM with ID and people with disabilities, Sunday and Tuesday is free admission.

Palafox y Mendoza donated his personal library, consisting of five thousand volumes.

In 1981, it was named a Historic Monument of Mexico for its beautifully decorated precinct, an emblem of the novo-Hispanic baroque style; and in 2005, it was included by UNESCO as part of the Memory of the World program for its bibliographic collection of antique books.

Today, the Palafoxiana Library is a museum of books and continues its work as a universal library.

But before they didn't pay for the library at all, so that was the part that I didn't like that now they pay to enter.

Absolutely gorgeous historic library! There is no cost to enter. It's located Inside of the cultural building with many temporary exhibits, local crafts and performances happening. I had a wonderful experience here. I was able to use the Google translate camera feature to translate the Spanish that went over my head in the local history exhibits. Don't skip this experience!

Astonishing place. It’s inside of the Casa de la Cultura Building right next to the cathedral of Puebla. What you see in the photo it’s all you have to see in this place, but it’s an incredible colonial library

This is Latin America's first library. Unfortunately you cannot touch the books and only admire the art and history here. We did not expect to visit this library only by fluke and it was worth it.

I was so surprised and amazed by the book collection. So much culture and history. A must when you are in Puebla.

It was a beautiful and historical place and too cheap. You should visit there.

Very nice collection of books. Saw book from 14 hundreds. There is no plan to digitize this treasure though.

Great attraction and greater english speaking guide. We learn a lot about the place and about Puebla city. We got to learn about a very interesting instrument called "the old iPad"

Nice place. It's just a a big room but nice.

I went on Tuesday and I didn't paid entrance fee, I heard they have discount for students, teachers and older people. Nice place to visit.

One of the best historical libraries in Central America, unique and must see! Buy tickets when you enter. If you are driving park your car and visit other places as well.

The most beautiful biblioteca I ever visited with a lot culture and history between it although majority of books are in Latin there’s tables that explain the history behind it . Harry Potter fans might like it because it look pretty similar lol
I highly recommend this place