Templo de Santo Domingo

Templo de Santo Domingo rises in Oaxaca City as a former Dominican monastery and church of green volcanic cantera stone. Sunlight gives its carved façade a yellow glow, while two blue-and-white checkered domes mark the entrance. The main façade reaches about twenty-six metres, and its twin towers rise thirty-five metres above the ground.

Construction began in 1572 and the church was completed in 1608, followed by the convent and gardens in 1619. Inside, Mexican Baroque decoration combines gold leaf, marble, carved wood, frescoes, and thirty-six paintings of Old Testament scenes. A Latin-cross plan contains ten chapels, including the Capilla del Rosario, whose octagonal drum supports a richly decorated dome. The former convent now houses the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca, with Zapotec and Mixtec artefacts, colonial religious art, contemporary works, and changing exhibitions.

Behind the church, the Jardín Etnobotánico occupies gardens once tended by Dominican monks. Two courtyards survive beside the museum: the cloister of processions has Gothic-style vaults and seventeenth-century frescoes, while the Patio de los Limoneros contains the old kitchen and an auditorium. One detail stays especially vivid inside: the main altarpiece was carved from a single piece of cedar and gilded with gold leaf.