Oaxaca’s Santo Domingo Church is No. 4 of 13 articles being published with pictures from a 14-day Elderhostel program in Mexico called "Dia De Los Muertos in Oaxaca" celebrating of the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, which has probably the largest such celebration, where we stayed seven nights. Three-night visits were also made to Cuernavaca and Tlaxcala. The program was in October and November 2008.

Elderhostel invites participants to "immerse yourself in celebratory rituals for the dead. Roam the halls of imposing palaces and awe-inspiring cathedrals. Embrace the mystery that lies beneath the region's surface in museums and archaeological sites. Absorb the varying differences in three of Mexico's most fascinating cities to discover the traditional significance that defines this intriguing culture."

SANTO DOMINGO CHURCH AND MUSEUM AND THE BOTANICAL GARDENS ARE DESCRIBED IN THIS TEXT.

Oaxaca traces its history at least 7,000 years back when about 20 diverse ethnic groups occupied the land. The Mixtecs and Zapotecs were the two most important groups. When the Aztecs arrived, they named the central valley Huaxyacac because of the huaje trees covering the land. When the Spanish arrived in the year 1521, they renamed it Oaxaca, a much more easily pronounced word.

The settlement was officially named a royal city in 1532. This area of Mexico was given to Hernan Cortes after the Spanish Conquest, in return for his services to the Spanish Crown. Oaxaca was also the home of Benito Juarez, originally a servant-boy to an affluent family who become President of Mexico and one of Mexico's most revered historical characters. Oaxaca gained prominence in the colonial era because of its location as a gateway to Central and South America as well as its rich landscape, intricate textiles and rumored gold mines.

The State of Oaxaca has a population of about 4 million, while Oaxaca City has about a half million residents.

Oaxaca has nearly perfect weather all year with tropical sunlight almost daily and ideal temperatures because of its location about 5,500 feet in elevation. Oaxaca State is in the Sierra Madre mountains with the Pacific Ocean touching its southern shoreline.

The stone facade of Santo Domingo Church turns golden in the late afternoon sunlight. The interior of the church has dazzling Baroque decoration with every surface covered with painted plaster and gilded reliefs of saints, martyrs, popes, and biblical characters entwined in swirling leafy branches, shells and scrolls. The main altar and the Rosary Chapel have golden retablos, and the dome has rings of saints and martyrs in tiers up to the central image of the Virgin of the Rosary.

Almost all of the church’s opulence is modern restoration. The church was built by Dominicans in the 17th and early 18th centuries in Baroque. About 100 years later during the War of Independence the church was being used as a stable, the altars having been stripped of their gold leaf and the interior damaged almost beyond repair. Although the church was returned to the clergy in 1898, the Dominicans did not return until about 1940. Restoration work throughout the church and its 11 chapels began more than 60 years ago continues.

The pulpit was constructed with wood from the region and bears the image of some Dominican Saints. On the ceiling of the choir loft is the molded, polychrome and gold genealogical tree of Santo Domingo considered to be one of the most outstanding examples of the art of those days.

The huge open plaza in front of the church was almost always filled with people in the afternoons and evenings as we passed it walking to and from the main plaza from our hotel.

The Santo Domingo Cultural Center fills the adjoining convent built in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Dominican monks with the museum describing the history of the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of this area of Mexico in a chronological tour through the 20th century using 14 galleries. Many discoveries made at Monte Alban, a nearby city of 30,000 Zapotecs abandoned about 1,000 A.D., are displayed in the museum’s main gallery.

The Botanical Garden is located in what was the garden of the convent. Archeological findings there include remnants of irrigation canals, drains and pools. This Botanical Garden has been collecting the flora of Oaxacan environments from the most humid to the most arid.

An index of articles related to this trip can be seen at our home page: http://www.worldisround.com/home/jdtan/index.html

If you have any questions, email them to me at jdtanner@a5.com rather than including them in your remarks at the bottom of the photo page.

Diane Tanner