PXL_20250425_173006207

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 07:49:22 +0100

The Storeroom

Unique of its kind, the dominant piece in this room is a set of doors, painted in oil by Miguel Jerónimo Zendejas, depicting the sciences according to Diderot's Encyclopedia.

Originally, they were part of a cabinet in the back room of a pharmacy in Puebla and served to store the raw materials used to make medicines.

Among the figures portrayed on these doors are: José Ignacio Rodríguez Alconedo, owner of the pharmacy, and his brother Francisco Rodríguez Alconedo, a painter; Antonio de la Cal y Bracho, a Spanish botanist who came to Puebla as a correspondent for the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and was appointed Chief Apothecary of the Hospital of San Pedro in Puebla; and Zendejas himself, portraying Cronus, an emblematic figure in history.

The private space of Rodríguez Alconedo's pharmacy served as a meeting place for the owners of Puebla's drugstores, who sought a degree of autonomy from the Protomedicato (Royal Board of Physicians) of Mexico City. Far from achieving their goals, the viceregal authorities closed the establishment and sent the Rodríguez brothers to Spain. Later, José returned to New Spain to join the insurgent troops of José María Morelos y Pavón; he was executed by firing squad in 1815.

This painting on panel synthesizes three moments in the history of New Spain: the Enlightenment and the importance of encyclopedic knowledge, the injustices committed against the Creoles, and the origins of the War of Independence.