San Pablo del Monte

San Pablo del Monte is a city and municipal seat on the southern slope of La Malinche, at about 2,300 metres and right against the Puebla urban sprawl. According to the Spanish Wikipedia, citing INEGI, it had 70,224 inhabitants at the 2020 census, which would make it the most populous locality in Tlaxcala. Its pre-Hispanic name was Cuauhtotoatla in Nahuatl; in colonial times it became San Pablo after its parish. In 1940 it was renamed Villa Vicente Guerrero, and in 2016 a decree of the state Congress restored the name San Pablo del Monte, in force since 20 December of that year.

The parish was founded in 1620, and on 5 May 1863, during the French intervention and the siege of Puebla, a clash known as the battle of San Pablo del Monte was fought here. What identifies the city today is talavera: many Tlaxcala workers learned the craft in the big Puebla workshops and then opened their own in San Pablo. The municipality has been inside the Talavera designation-of-origin area since 16 October 2003. The workshops are spread across barrios such as El Cristo, Santiago and Jesús, and make everything from crosses and vases to miniatures and Christmas pieces decorated with poinsettias.

In the centre, look for the parish of San Pablo Apóstol, from the 17th century with a clock dated 1913, the Plaza de Armas, the Santísima Trinidad church with its white and blue facade, and the San Nicolás Obispo chapel with its yellow tile front. San Miguel Park opened in 2016 and the Casa de la Cultura reopened that year with six exhibition rooms. Among the festivals, the San Pablo fair runs from 29 June to 3 July, and the Señor del Monte feast falls on the second Friday of Lent.