Mexico’s fourth largest city, Puebla, is also one of the oldest cities in the country. It was established by the Spanish in 1531 and is home to an incredible 2,600 historic sites and 365 churches with enough heritage to earn itself UNESCO World Heritage status. Wander the pedestrian-friendly streets and you’ll feel the remnants of the Spanish conquest. The towers of the Cathedral of San Francisco dominate the landscape and the beautiful Bibliotheca Palafoxiana in the city’s historic centre is Mexico’s oldest library, decorated with grand Spanish colonial charm and home to titles dating back to the 15th century.

Although little of the age-old cultures and traditions are left, the spirit of the ancient past lives on through people’s daily lives, and are often expressed in their pottery and stories. Add the mystery of indigenous sites, underground tunnels and tales of ancient giants and Puebla City will surprise, intrigue and delight. It is a city where visitors come to be captivated by Hispanic heritage and its colonial past.

Tunnels, giants and stories of old

In the city with secrets, it was long whispered that the founders of Puebla City built a network of underground tunnels. Locals said they were a way to traverse across the city undercover or perhaps for the use of mysterious religious ceremonies. There was a map belonging to a local family in the 19th century that proved it, some said.

Others said the talk of these ancient tunnels was a mere urban legend. No one knew where they were and the existence of these secret tunnels could never be proven.

But all that changed in 2015 when workers found a small section of the tunnel buried under mud. A public works excavation soon revealed an intricate maze of underground tunnels right under the heart of city’s historic centre.

Believed to be around 500 years old, multiple entrances were found across the network, with stone-lined tunnels reaching up to 10 km in length and three and a half in width. Excited archaeologists and historians started investigating to unravel the secrets of Mexico’s hidden tunnels and now suspect the passageways were used as "hidden roads" by privileged segments of society during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Catholic churches and monasteries, built during the same period, would have communicated with each other through the network.

With the discovery, the Puebla’s Secrets program was set up by the municipal government to restore the tunnels, bridges and other hidden vestiges. With each new finding, they reconsider what they know of their city’s origins. What we do know is it was founded by Spanish conquistadors in 1531 in an area then inhabited by local Indians. But why did they need to communicate and transport their treasures underground?

Sergio Vergara Berdejo, manager of the Puebla History Center, said the infrastructure is from the founding of the city but also reveals its history from generation to generation. Fifteen different architectural styles of archway systems have been found, each reflecting the time of construction. One, for example, shows the builders used a type of cement composition made with stone chips and other materials to fashion a half-way arch.

"Puebla in the seventeenth century was flooded and half the city was covered in mud, the city we walk in now is the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and the bottom is the treasures that we must preserve,” said Berdejo. An old bridge had been discovered which was buried after the city flooded centuries ago and is thought to have connected the colonial city with the areas where Indians lived on the other side of the Almoloya River.

In 1862, the underground warren was used by Mexican troops during the Battle of Puebla, hiding military from the invading French armies sent by Napoleon III. The wider tunnels allowed horses and carriages to pass ammunition secretly around the city. The battle ended in a victory for the Mexican Army over the occupying French forces.

Remarkably, the underground structures have withstood the weight of the buildings above, water systems, and earthquakes over the centuries, and remain in good condition.

The long term rediscovery project may continue for more than 10 years as only three percent of the city’s underground network is so far thought to have been discovered. This small section, the May 5 Historical Passageway, is already open to visitors.

Puebla is a city that keeps revealing her secrets. Not that this was a surprise to Puebla Mayor, Antonio Gali. His grandfather used to tell stories of the tunnels, even seeing Porfirio Díaz (the Mexican revolutionary who later became president), cross through the vaults on horseback, he says. After the Mexican Revolution the tunnels were left abandoned but thanks to storytelling the tunnels were never truly forgotten.

But the story doesn’t end here. There may be more revelations. In the 1500s when the Spanish were erecting the city’s first foundations, colonial reports mention the discovery of buried “bones of giants.” There are stories here too, it seems. Native Mexicans are said to have given large bones to Spanish conquerors as gifts and the region is notorious for legends of ancient human giants. Some say the bones are folklore, others they were dinosaur bones, others say that the fossilized bones of human giants have been held back in a cover up. Maybe one day Puebla City will reveal her truth.

World class ceramics

Puebla City is as well known in the pottery world as tequila from Tequila and champagne from Champagne. Finding an abundance of quality clay around Puebla City, the Spanish brought in European pottery techniques to build a ceramics industry that flourished in Puebla. With the imaginative influence of the local potters, the pottery products began to infuse with the colorful artisan designs, and the combination of the native culture with modern European methods created a unique pottery style that is known today as Talavera.

Internationally, interest in collecting Talavera began in as early as 1904 when an American visiting Mexico, Emily Johnston de Forrest, discovered Talavera and began one of the most famous collections of Mexican pottery, believing it an important North American artistic achievement. In 1911, de Forest, daughter of the first president of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, gifted her 100-piece collection to the MoMA where it became the foundation of a growing and permanent collection. De Forest died in 1943 but the collection she started over a century ago continues to exhibit the importance of Latin arts and the prestige and beauty of Mexican Talavera.

Quality pottery is judged by the care and sensitivity taken by the artists through the process of throwing, coiling and firing; and of gently shaping and hand-painting the finished designs to allow each piece to be individually personalized. It is with such care that Talavera potteries are still being made.

To see the process and watch master potters at work, visit Talavera Santa Catarina, a ceramics center known for its excellence in preserving traditional methods and designs originally introduced by the Spanish, as well as creating innovative, modern ceramics inspired by contemporary trends. Today the family artists at Talavera Santa Catarina have incorporated contemporary designs into their work. Tiles painted in traditional patterns are broken up to create a mosaic of photographs and bespoke orders of ceramic figurines portraying a special occasion make unique collectable items.

Talavera de la Luz is an equally impressive center for the famed pottery in Puebla City. Dedicated to traditional Talavera production process, the workshop is one of the few that have obtained International Denomination of Origin certificate, recognising the workshop’s association with this important Puebla heritage. One of the specialties of Talavera de la Luz is ceramics for architecture, the making of bespoke, elaborately designed murals and wall plaques that have decorated houses of lovers of exotic designs and unique ceramics collections.

Mysteries of the bygone era

Often mistaken for a mere hill or small mountain, the Great Pyramid of Cholula is a grass-covered ancient monument in the town of Cholula, just outside Puebla City, that once served as a sacred religious site. At 66 meters tall it is the largest pyramid that exists in the world today.

The Aztecs believed that a mythical giant named Xelhua built the Great Pyramid of Cholula as an asylum for himself, after escaping heavy floods caused by Tlaloc, the god of rains. In the pre-Hispanic times, the pyramid was used as a temple by various ethnic people, including the Aztecs and the Nahua people local to the region surrounding Puebla City. Rituals and sacrificial offerings were performed here, on temple alters built by stone fragments that fit perfectly together. Through research, the site has also offered clues to how these ancient civilizations lived, and archaeologists have found a large colored mural depicting a party scene, where the people in the painting seemed to be drinking potions, historically known to cause merry hallucinations.

A vantage point half way up the pyramid provides a good view of the El Popocatepetl, the snow-capped volcano that occasionally blows puffs of white smoke into the sky. For a closer look at the great structure itself, the tunnels dug and restored by the archaeologists at the base of the pyramid are free for visitors to explore.

Rosewood Puebla opens in the first quarter 2017.