Oaxaca, Oaxaca
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- Oaxaca is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the city. For the state, see: Oaxaca (state).
Contents
History
There have been Zapotec and Mixtec settlements in the general area of the modern city of Oaxaca for thousands of years, in connection with the important ancient centres of Monte Albán and Mitla. The colonial city, however, dates from 1532, when Spanish settlers who had followed Hernán Cortés' conquistadores successfully petitioned the Queen of Spain for a grant of land. They had already founded a city in the neighbourhood, under the name of Antequera, on the basis of a charter from King Carlos V of Spain, but Cortés had successfully sought to have the entire Valle de Oaxaca declared as part of his personal marquisate, and to have the settlers removed. The queen's charter however secured the townspeople's rights, and the modern city grew up within and around the one-league square that they were granted.The historic centre of the city is laid out in typical Spanish colonial style, with a rectangular grid of streets surrounding a central square, the zócalo. Most of the important buildings are within this central area.
Teacher's Strike
As of May, 2006, Oaxaca's Zocalo is the site of a massive teacher's strike. The demonstrations, which have been violent at times and caused damage to Oaxaca's historic center are ongoing and planned to continue.Tourism
Oaxaca is far more than a tourist destination, and tourism does not dominate the city's life. Nonetheless, it does have a significant tourist trade, based on its numerous baroque churches and religious buildings (many of which have recently been restored), its proximity to Monte Albán, the ready availability of attractive local craft products in its markets and in nearby villages, and on a reputation for a relaxed style of life and friendly and courteous local population. It has a very wide range of cafés and restaurants, many of them specializing in the distinctive regional cuisine with some claiming to be among the best in Mexico. Mole Negro, Rojo and Coloradito are cocoa-based sauces, with over fifty additional ingredients, that are among the main claims to culinary fame.Important buildings
Earthquakes damaged or destroyed many of the earliest buildings in the city, so most of those that currently exist date from no earlier than the beginning of the 18th century.- Churches and religious buildings
- *Catedral de Oaxaca, also referred to as The Cathedral of the Virgin of the Assumption, replacing an earlier building and completed in 1733, which contains chapels of Santa Cruz de Huatalco (1612) and Los Beatos.
- *Church and former convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán
- *Church of San Augustín, completed in 1722.
- *Church and former monastery of St John of God (Templo y Exconvento de San Juan de Dios), Oaxaca's oldest church still standing, completed in 1703.
- *Church of San Felipe Neri
- *Former convent (Ex convento) of San Catalina (now the Hotel Camino Real, but open for viewing)
- *Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, which contains a statue of the Virgin of Solitude, crowned with a 2 kg solid gold crown studded with diamonds – though this was the subject of a theft recently.
- Government buildings
- *Governor's palace (Palacio de Gobierno), dating from 1884 though on the site of several earlier buildings serving the same purpose.
- Museums and the arts
- *Centro Cultural de Santo Domingo, occupying the former monastery buildings attached to Santo Domingo church, and beautifully restored in the 1990s to serve as a museum of Oaxacan life from pre-Columban days to the present. Some important artefacts from Monte Albán are displayed here.
- *Museum of Contemporary Art (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, MACO), housed in the so-called Casa de Cortés. This is a beautiful colonial building, though as it dates from after the death of Hernán Cortés, it can never actually have served as his house.
- *Rufino Tamayo museum (Museo Arte Prehispánico de Rufino Tamayo), with an important collection of pre-Columban art, arranged in an unusual aesthetic and thematic manner
- *Museo de la Soledad, next to the Church of the Soledad.
- *Instituto de Artes Gráficos de Oaxaca
- *Casa de Juárez, a museum devoted to the life of Benito Juárez
- *Photography Museum, the Centro de Fotografía Álvarez Bravo
- *Stamp Museum, the Museo Philatélica de Oaxaca
- *Railway Museum of Southern Mexico, in the former mainline railway station
- *Teatro Macedonio Alcalá, which as well as being a working theatre houses a collection of romantic art.
- *Planetarium, on the Cerro del Fortín
- Commercial buildings
- *Juárez market
- *20 de Noviembre market
- *Crafts market (Mercado de Artesanías)
- *Mercado de Abastos
- *Los Arquitos (former aqueduct)
- Parks and gardens
- *The Zócalo
- *Alameda de Léon, diagonally adjacent to the zócalo and in front of the cathedral
- *Ethnobotanical garden, surrounding the former monastery of Santo Domingo
- *Parque Benito Juárez (known as
- *Cerro de Fortín, overlooking the highway that enters the city from Mexico City, and bearing in stone letters Benito Juárez's slogan, "El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz" (Respect for others' rights is peace)
- *Parque Comunal de San Felipe, bordering the city and accessed via the suburb of San Felipe del Agua, and including the 3250-metre Cerro La Peña
Famous Oaxacans
Important people associated with Oaxaca include- Benito Juárez
- Porfirio Díaz
- Margarita Maza, wife of Benito Juárez
- Rodolfo Morales, artist
- Rufino Tamayo
- Adriana Albores, actress
- Francisco Toledo, artist
- Lila Downs, singer
- Vinny Castilla, Major League Baseball Player
Education
Oaxaca is the site of the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, which has buildings throughout the city centre. The Universidad de Mesoamérica also has a base in the city.Transport
Oaxaca-Xoxocotlan airport (IATA code OAX) is approximately 10 km south of the city centre. Most flights are to Mexico City for onward connection, but there are also flights to Huatulco, Cancún, Cancún, Tuxtla Gutierrez and Tijuana. Continental flights between Oaxaca and Houston have also been initiated.The city has separate first class and second class bus stations, offering services to most places within the state of Oaxaca, including the coastal resorts of Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Ángel and Pinotepa Nacional, and also long-distance services to Puebla and Mexico City and other Mexican locations such as Veracruz.
The major highways serving Oaxaca are Federal Highways 175 and 131, southwards to the Oaxacan coastal resorts; National Highways 190 and 125, southwest to Pinotepa Nacional, Guerrero; National Highways 190 and 130, to Mexico City; the autopista 150D/131D, offering a more rapid route to Mexico City; and National Highway 175 north to Veracruz, Veracruz.
Gallery
Agave Landscape of Tequila | Calakmul | Campeche | Chichen Itza | El Tajín | Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda | Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines | Hospicio Cabañas, Guadalajara | Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California | Luis Barragán House and Studio | Mexico City and Xochimilco | Monasteries of Popocatépetl | Morelia | Oaxaca and Monte Albán | Palenque | Paquimé, Casas Grandes | Puebla | Querétaro | Rock Paintings of Sierra de San Francisco | Sian Ka'an | Teotihuacán | Tlacotalpan | Uxmal | Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino | Xochicalco | Zacatecas
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