The creation of this library was approved by royal decree in December 1647 and reconfirmed by Pope Innocent X in 1648.
For more than 360 years, the Palafoxiana Library, has been based in the Old College of San Juan within the Seminary founded by Palafox and Mendoza. Although the construction of the vault, as it is in our days was made in 1773, by Bishop Francisco Fabián y Fuero, who ordered the first two floors of the bookshelf to be erected, which is a fine work of the New Spain cabinetmakers They worked harmoniously the woods of ayacahuite, polocote and cedar. From this period dates the delicate altarpiece where the effigy of the Madonna of Trapani is located, oil that is presumed to be made taking as a model the sculpture that Nino Pisano made of the Virgin in the 14th century. Later, in the nineteenth century, a third level was placed because the number of volumes that were in the library had increased, 4 in fact the library has 45 058 old books.