OAXACA

After 3 days in Oaxaca we are starting to know the city and its surroundings. The city is full of churches, mainly from the renaissance to baroque period. Some are in the ultra-baroque style known as churrigueresque with amazingly ornate, painted 3-D stucco walls and ceilings. An example is the huge Santo Domingo church – which also boasts two magnificent gilt altarpieces. However on closer investigation these prove to have been created in the mid C20th! The building was taken over by the military during the war of independence and later the civil wars associated with reform and the imposition/defeat of Maximilian, and at some point the originals disappeared… Money was raised to replace them after the church eventually recovered ownership. It was quite a relief to enter the very sober classical church of the Company of Jesus… Oaxaca State is home to the greatest of Mexico’s public figures, Benito Juarez. He was born in 1806 to a poor Indian family 60 km north of the city and orphaned at the age of 3. At 12 he walked to Oaxaca to look for work and someone saw his potential and gave him an education. He eventually qualified as a lawyer and later entered politics. He was a great reformer, in particular his reform laws relieved the catholic church of ALL its property, except the actual churches. The threat of these reform laws was a principal cause of the civil war and the recruitment of Maximilian as emperor. After Maximilian’s death they were passed, and Oaxaca (like other cities) is full of hotels and other institutions in ex-monasteries (Cf. Mexico 1). There are two principal archaeological sites, both of the Zapotec culture. Monte Albán is by far the more important and claims to be the earliest planned city in the Americas and the earliest ruled by an organized state – the earlier Mayas were ruled by a hereditary nobility. It was inhabited from around 500 BC to 800 AD; virtually abandoned by the Zapotecs, it was later used for a short time by the Mixtecs who came from further west. Mitla is a later Zapotec site, ca. 1300-1400. The architecture does not present very great development, although there is more decoration as time passes. This seems to be true of all Mesoamerican building: the Mayas were building pyramidal temples from 1000 BC and the Aztecs were still using basically the same form when Cortes arrived in 1521. (This is of course a simplification.)At Mitla Magda saw a pair of shoes which took her fancy. I was more enthusiastic about the legs!! Monte Albán was only “discovered” in 1806, so was not damaged by the conquistadors. At Mitla by contrast they built a large church on top of the principal temple… We went to the village of Tlacolula outside Oaxaca and visited the market where women in brightly coloured local dress sell peppers, fruits and a range of other products. It was fascinating to hear them talking in Zapotec. We went into the church, also in churrigueresque style (with original altarpieces!). We were shown the beautiful little organ, made by Mexican craftsmen. The case is C18th century but the tubes and works are C17th. It has just been restored and they are very proud of it! however we didn’t hear it being played – there had been an inaugural concert the day before... As we were leaving a couple arrived (preceded by the town band) to celebrate their 75th (!!!) wedding anniversary. I don’t even know what that qualifies as – I only know as far as diamond!