• Ivonne Giles / INAH
    Ivonne Giles / INAH
  • INAH-DMC
    INAH-DMC
  • Ivonne Giles/INAH
    Ivonne Giles/INAH
  • INAH-DMC
    INAH-DMC
  • INAH-DMC
    INAH-DMC
  • INAH-DMC
    INAH-DMC
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
The beautiful chapel of the Virgin Mary, the chaplain’s house, a military barracks and four bastions make up this strange, airy building on a lofty site whose seven galleries tell the story of the fort in the wars of Independence, Reform, Intervention and the Revolution.

Historic place
About the museum
One of the most important artifacts of the Museum of Non-Intervention is the Fort of Loreto itself, faithful witness of its own history. In the mid-seventeenth century work began with the support of the lay people and the secular clergy on a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Loreto, the Italian protector of the family. Celia Salazar Exaire relates that the chapel came about at the request of a devotee of the Virgin of Loreto called José de la Cruz Sarmiento, who wished to thank the Virgin for saving his life after he was hit by lightning in 1655. The chapel was built on top of the hill of San Cristóbal, following a series of guidelines in terms of its structure. During the seventeenth century all churches dedicated to the Virgin of Loreto had to have the same measurements as the holy house in Loreto, Italy. In addition to the chapel a house was built for the chaplain, with a cistern to water the garden. The design was retained until the eighteenth century when the chapel was rebuilt in a more luxurious style.

Religious worship continued until the 1810s, even though the site, but not the chapel, had been used as a barracks from the end of the eighteenth century. At the height of the War of Independence in 1813, the viceregal authorities of Puebla proposed to transfer the city’s munitions dump to the site, and the building of the fort as such begun in 1815. It was completed in 1817. The Fort of Loreto is designed on a square plan with bastions built on its corners, the purpose of these corner towers being to open up wider arcs of fire. The names of the bastions are: San José, El Carmen, Santa Bárbara and Guadalupe. As Salazar recounts, the construction of the fort was commissioned by the artillery commander Manuel Varela Ulloa, and after 1832 the Fort of Loreto started to see constant military activity. Its location made the observation of potential enemy military movements much easier.

The exhibition shows that from then onwards the fort was used in various conflicts throughout Mexico’s turbulent nineteenth century, whether between political factions such as federalists against centralists, liberals against conservatives or to counter serious foreign attacks such as the American invasion in the 1847 Mexican-American War (which actually lasted from 1846 to 1848) and the French Intervention of 1862 to 1867. The Fort of Loreto was very important for the Mexican military in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, and it even came to be used in the Mexican Revolution in the early twentieth century.

The museum’s storyline also talks about the fort’s peacetime use as a military prison and astronomical observatory. It was even abandoned for years. In the early 1930s the brothers Ángel and Carlos Paz y Puente asked the military authorities to close the fort and make it available to them on free loan for use as a military museum.

It was opened to the public on May 5, 1936 as the Museum of the History of War, with the aim of displaying the founders’ collection of material from the periods of Independence, Reform and Revolution. Subsequently and under the management of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, it was renamed the Museum of Non-Intervention to commemorate the centenary of the defeat of French intervention on May 5, 1862, known as the Battle of Puebla.

Its collection is displayed in seven galleries, six permanent and one temporary. The range of topics covered is wide, beginning with the history of the building from 1650 up to the period known as the Restored Republic of 1867. In addition to the narratives, the visitor can see oil and acrylic paintings of various formats, uniform, weapons, documents, flags, and other military artifacts, as well as everyday social history items from the periods covered by the facility. The exhibition was redesigned in 2012.

In addition to these spaces, the fort has several canons from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries on the esplanade, as well as in the fort's four bastions. Some of these were very likely fired on May 5, 1862.
May 1962
460571
SINAFO- Fototeca Nacional del INAH
640411
SINAFO- Fototeca Nacional del INAH
640414
SINAFO- Fototeca Nacional del INAH
193259
SINAFO- Fototeca Nacional del INAH
An expert point of view
Ivonne Giles Flores
Ivonne Giles Flores
Museo del Fuerte de Loreto
Practical information
Thursday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00.

$75.00 pesos

Permisos de video: $50.00

  • Extra fee for video cameras
  • Extra fee for professional cameras
  • Sundays free for Mexican citizens
  • Free entrance for Mexicans under 13 years old
  • Free entrance for Mexican students and teachers
  • Free entry for seniors
  • pensioners and retirees with ID
  • No Smoking
  • No entry with food
Av. Ejércitos de Oriente S/N. Centro Cívico Cinco de Mayo. Los Fuertes. Los Fuertes. C.P. 27720. Puebla, Pue.

From the central plaza, take Boulevard 5 de Mayo, turn on Av. 2 north and enter by Calzada de los Fuertes.

By public transport, take route 72 or 72A.

From the bus station, take route 61 or the Libertad-Resurreción route.


Services
  • Accesibilidad
  • Estacionamiento
  • Sanitarios
  • Visitas guiadas
GUIDE
Guía
  • +52 (222) 234 8513
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Directory
Coordinadora Administrativa
Ivonne Estela Giles Flores
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+52 (222) 234 8513
2016
12899
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
13917
2023
26255
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
2021
18000
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
2008
9837
Museo Local de la No Intervención-Fuerte de Loreto
146_Fuerte_de_Loreto.pdf
Vista_Ext_b
Vista_exterior_FLoretto_1
INAH-DMC
Vista_exterior_FLoretto_3
Ivonne Giles/INAH
Vista_exterior_FLoretto_5
INAH-DMC
IMG_0847
INAH-DMC
Vista_exterior_FLoretto_4
INAH-DMC
19.0525701,-98.1799185
Texto © CONACULTA.INAH.Museo del Fuerte de Loreto CNME Imágenes © CONACULTA.INAH.Fototeca CNME.Gliserio Castañeda © CONACULTA.INAH.Dirección de Medios.Mauricio Marat
Centro INAH Puebla
29
B
21
Ivonne Giles / INAH

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