Two other museums of archaeology within ten miles of Oaxaca city are open to visitors. The
spectacular ancient city of Monte Alban, on the mountain top at 6,300 feet , six miles south of the city,
has a small museum displaying artifacts taken from the ruin.
Eight miles west of the city,  San Jose el Mogote, built in 1200 BC and the oldest stone city in the
State, has a small museum and  should be high on the list for those wanting  to study the ancient art that
developed in the valley of Oaxaca. The artifacts in the small museum at the site show Olmec influence,
some being similar to those found in the Olmec settlements on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and
displayed in the Veracruz  Xalapa museum or at the La Venta Museum in Villa Hermosa.
This artistic style with Olmec and Teotihuacan influence continued after San Jose el Mogote waned
around 500 BC, and evolved into a unique Oaxacan style at the city on the mountaintop now call Monte
Alban.
The art of ancient Oaxaca continued to evolve, culminating in intricate mold-made tomb
offerings of the 2nd  to the 8Th Century AD Classic period.
The classic period of Oaxaca ended with the decline of Monte
Alban. Post Classic art included the Mixtec tomb offering found
in 1932 by archaeologist Alfonso Caso and displayed in one
large room at the Santo Domingo Museum.
Archaeological projects continue in
culturally-rich Oaxaca
Thirty miles south of the city, the Mitla ruin
site shows the influence of a later style
developed by the Mixtec who entered the
Oaxaca region after the decline of Monte
Alban
The Tenth Century AD City of Mitla reflects the
influence on the local architecture of the Mixtec
people who came into the valley of Oaxaca
from the northern mountains.
Santo Domingo Museum Oaxaca,  now called the
Santo Domingo Cultural Center is located in the capitol city
of culturally-rich Oaxaca State.  
The building is the largest of the old colonial building in the
State and was once a church and convent built in the
mid-sixteenth century by the Dominican order.  
The City of Oaxaca has many ruin sites including two of the
oldest stone cities in the new world, Monte Alban and San
Jose el Mogote.
From Archaeological digs throughout the State, historic and
important records of the culture and heritage of the region
come to the museum in Oaxaca City for display.
Santo Domingo Museum
Oaxaca
Santo Domingo Cultural
Center
Soft Seat Travel
Santo Domingo Cultural Center was once a
Dominican church and convent. After more than
four years of preservation and restoration, it
opened in 1998 as the City's premier museum.
The local ruins produce rare ancient art from the Calssic period,  the most notable, burial urns that
depict the Zapotec God of Rain and those that depict the Mixtec God of Fire from Oaxaca's
northern mountains.
The Santo Domingo Museum and Cultural Center displays objects created in the city that once flourished on
the distant hill  to the right,  now the mountain-top ruin of Monte Alban, active from 500 BC to 750 AD.
Santo Domingo Museum displays many classic era burial urns, most depicting the Rain God ,
Cociyo, a reigning deity during Monte Alban's Classic period, 200 to 800 AD.
Historical botanical gardens surround the building and display plants native to the area. Tours of the
gardens in several languages are available for 100 pesos. (Volunteer Docent assignments available)
Oaxaca State's diverse climate zones range from coastal jungle to mountain rain forest and have
nurtured over 15,000 indigenous plant species. More different plants are found in Oaxaca State than
in all of Europe.
The Mixtec people entering the Valley of Oaxaca from the northern mountains brought with them a
knowledge of metal working in gold silver and copper. They used the abandoned city of Monte Alban
as a burial place, re-using Zapotec tombs to bury their dead.
The Santo Domingo Cultural Center displays the Mixtec art found in the Tomb Seven offering in a
special room devoted to this treasure, a collection considered to be the most significant tomb offering
ever found in the new world.
The ability to work crystal, lost wax process gold and silver, and turquoise  were hallmarks of the
highly-developed Mixtec skill in creating ornamental jewelry and tomb offerings.
In second floor galleries the museum displays chronologically arranged antique art objects
uncovered in the many ruin sites throughout the State. The objects found in the oldest cities show an
Olmec influence, particularly those from the San Jose el Mogote ruin, eight miles north of the
modern city of Oaxaca.
The building when completed in
the early part of seventeenth
century covered 40.000 square
meters and served as a
Dominican convent.
The reform laws and Mexico's
independence in the mid 19th
century brought Federalization
of the complex and it became a
military installation.  The church
closed in 1866 and did not
open again until 1902.
The military returned the
building to civil use in 1993 and
it was designated for cultural
use. In July of 1998, after 50
months of restoration and
preservation work, the Santo
Domingo Cultural Center
opened for visitors     
On the north and east sides of the museum complex, a
botanical garden designed to display and protect
Oaxaca's indigenous plants is open for guided tours in
several languages, the Oaxaca Historical Ethnobotanical
Garden
The Santo Domingo Cultural Center is home to four institutions, The Oaxaca Historical
Ethnobotanical Gardens, The Oaxaca Cultures Museum, The Friar Francisco de Burgoa Library,
and the Journalist Nestor Sanchez H. Publications Library.  The publications library has reading
rooms for visitors where newspapers and magazines are available.  The Burgoa Library preserves
antique books that date back to 1484 and are available to scholars. Many other sections of the
complex become art galleries for changing photography exhibits and concert and meeting space.
Zapotec burial urns of the classic period were mold-made clay vessels unique to Oaxaca.  
The mass produced vessels made in series contain symbols of water, corn, Venus, and the
stars in the headpiece and cartouche and are found within the tombs or at the entrance.