Santo Domingo Church and Museum

Day 6 of our trip we spent the day in Oaxaca.

We visited the Santa Domingo Church and Cultural Center of Oaxaca.  This was one museum we felt was a must as it contained the artifacts from Tomb #7 at Monte Alban.

The church and former monastery was built by the Dominican Order.  Construction started in 1570 but was not completed for 200 years!  During the revolutionary wars, the buildings were taken over for military use and did not return to religious use until 1938. After many years of neglect the buildings were fully restored in 1999. The monastery is now the Cultural Center of Oaxaca, a regional museum.

Old old book in archive library

Ledger over 300 years old

Visiting the library with books dating back to the 16th century

Tomb 7 was discovered in 1932 and became very famous for all the jewelry and artifacts that survived the ages. As in Egypt many of the tombs were raided and left empty. The jewellery from Tomb #7 was made of jade, shells, coral, pearls, gold, silver, turquoise and obsidian.  There were cups made of alabaster.  Such a variety indicated the extent of the trading at that time. This is a very impressive display of the artistry of 2500 years ago.

Some of the skulls on display were of royalty and had notched teeth to hold jewels.

remains of a jade funeral mask

Gold necklace

Alabaster bowl

Alabaster bowls

Eyebrow hair pluckers!

The kings crown.  The gold feather inserts into a slot in the crown.

armor worn by the Spanish conquistadors

chain mail worn by the conquistadors

looking out the museum window at the side of the Santo Domingo Church

fountain in the courtyard of the complex

sun dial to tell time for morning hours

sun dial for afternoon/evening hours

A chair belonging to a past president

our tour group: Vic, Louise, Robin, Birgit, Sherry (kneeling), Carol, Bev, Bob, Mike, Mavis (missing Jan & Dale)

ornate ceiling in the courtyard of the museum

A wedding procession on the street from the church

Bride & groom effigies lead the parade

the bride and groom

the rest of the wedding party

Each evening we were in Oaxaca, there was a parade of the state police with their dogs around the town square.  After the parade they would station themselves among the crowd on the square as there was a protest in session in front of the government building.