Santo Domingo Church and Cultural Center in Oaxaca

The Church and Convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Spanish: Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán) in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez (Mexico) is an example of New Spanish Baroque architecture. The first construction projects for the building date back to 1551, when the Antequera de Oaxaca's City Council ceded a total of twenty-four lots to the Dominican Order for the construction of a convent in the city. However, it was not until 1608 that the conventual complex of Santo Domingo was inaugurated, still unfinished.

The museum is located in the upper part of the former convent, and has 14 permanent exhibition rooms and 13 thematic rooms, which, through rudimentary pieces, works of art and archaeological remains, offers visitors an overview of 10 thousand years of history in the state of Oaxaca, from the earliest sedentary settlements and the flourishing of the great pre-Hispanic cultures, conquest and colonization, the era of independence, up to the 20th century.

Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán.
The Church and Convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Spanish: Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán) in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez is an example of New Spanish Baroque architecture.

The first construction projects for the building date back to 1551, when the Antequera de Oaxaca's City Council ceded a total of twenty-four lots to the Dominican Order for the construction of a convent in the city.
However, it was not until 1608 that the conventual complex of Santo Domingo was inaugurated, still unfinished.
Santo Domingo is an architectural complex that includes the temple itself, which currently continues to provide religious services for the Catholic community of the city of Oaxaca, and the annexed convent that is the headquarters of the Regional Museum of Oaxaca.

The front of the church.
The front of the church is of three bodies and topped, in which Saint Dominic and Saint Hippolitus emerge holding a temple on which the Holy Spirit descends.

The two bell towers have arched openings and four columns attached to each side, with fluted shafts and crowned with a pinnacle.
Its domes are covered with azulejos and display small cups with lanterns.

Santo Domingo Square.
To access both the convent and the temple, it is necessary to cross a small square.

This square is used as a stage for some popular festivals and other entertainment.

Main cloister.
The architecture of the convent is similar to many European models. It has a large interior patio with Gothic style two-story arcaded loggias.

Four arcaded corridors surround a central fountain.
The fountain in a quatrefoil shape has six non-functional columns flanking it.

The Museum of the Cultures of Oaxaca.
The museum occupies what was once a Dominican convent. The building dates from the sixteenth century and is one of the most important architectural and artistic structures built in New Spain.

The museum has an excellent collection of artifacts from the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures, including the fabulous treasure found in Tomb 7 on Monte Albán, as well as rooms devoted to the ethnography and history of Oaxaca.
The Museum is composed of the following rooms: Millennial cultures (10,000 BC - 200 AD), Thriving Times (200 - 900 AD), Treasures of the 7th Tomb- The Ladies (900 - 1521 AD), Contact and Conquest (16th century), Spiritual Conquest of the Past (16th and 17th centuries), Indigenous Answers (16th - 18th century), Matter and Spirit (16th - 18th century), Emergence of the New Nation (late 18th - mid 19th century), Order and Progress (1876 - 1911), Images of the Twentieth Century, Indigenous Communal Life (today), Redefining Community Circle ( today), and Santo Domingo: History and Discoveries (16th - 20th century).

Brazier.
Anthropomorphic brazier with a biconical body with an everted edge, it represents a face with a rectangular mouth, an aquiline nose, circular eyes, rectangular ears and a frontal nothing tied in the form of a bow in the center. Made in smooth brown paste, with polished cream slip on both sides.

Artefact from San José Mogote, Etla, Oaxaca.
Zapotec Civilization, Pre-Classical period, 4th Century BC-3rd Century AD.

Vessel.
Cylindrical vessel with a flat base and a rounded direct rim. Made in orange paste smoothed with cream slip, polished from the inside to the outside edge, decorated representing the mouth of a stylized jaguar with traces of red paint.

Artefact from San José Mogote, Etla, Oaxaca.
Zapotec Civilization, Pre-Classical period, 4th Century BC-3rd Century AD.

Urn.
Tetrapod box with earthenware-type support that presents symbolic applications such as protuberances in its four corners, on the front face it presents applications that represent the god Cocijo accompanied by the glyph "M"; The rectangular lid represents an old god (Huehuetéotl) wearing bracelets, a pectoral that ends in phytomorphic figures, a cape, a mask that covers the nose, crenellated eyebrows, ear flaps, a plume-type headdress with the glyph "C" in the center, and lateral ears of corn. It has indicated the beards and hair that falls on the sides over the shoulders. Made in gray paste with red paint on the face and headdress.

From Grave 7 of Mount Alban.

Urn.

Skull decorated with turquoise.
The most important of the human remains discovered in tomb 7 was the skull decorated with mosaics of turquoise and shells. It was found already partly destroyed and some fragments lay next to it. It was placed on a paste base of the same composition as the one used to adhere the mosaic of gold, turquoise, jades, and shells. The paste base, on which the skull was placed, externally preserves remains of a red color and has a deep circular incision, which was made when it was still fresh, by placing it on an object that had a rim, which was thus marked in the paste. This object was probably made of wood or some other perishable material, as we did not find any trace of it. On the upper face are the traces left by the hole in the occiput that rested on the base.

The skull retained a few fragments of paste adhered to it, mainly in the facial bones, and small turquoise plates, but on the paste were traces of other plates of various sizes. On the right side and partly covering the teeth of the upper jaw, we can see the red shell plates that simulated the teeth and two shell discs with a concentric circular perforation are placed in the orbits. The orbits are filled with paste forming an inward cone.
Probably these circular cavities were covered to represent the pupil, with the two red-shelled discs. Inserted into the nostril was a spindle-shaped object with a white shell that undoubtedly represents a flint knife and is a constant ornament on the skulls that appear represented in the Mixtec codices.

Urn.
Anthropomorphic funeral urn with the representation of Xipe Totec Found in the Zimatlan Swamp.

Mixtec civilisation, 10th century. Oaxaca.

Bloom times (200 – 900 AD).
In this space the visitor can see objects that were made as part of the commission of the Zapotec and Mixtec culture mainly, religious ideas, calendaring and the writing system. Urns with representations of deities made of ceramics and lithic sculptures are exhibited.