Mexico

Four blocks north of the cathedral, gorgeous Iglesia de Santo Domingo is the most splendid of Oaxaca's churches. It was built mainly between 1570 and 1608 as part of the city's Dominican monastery, with the finest artisans from Puebla and elsewhere helping in its construction. Like other big buildings in this earthquake-prone region, Santo Domingo has immensely thick stone walls.

Amid the fine carving on the baroque facade, the figure holding a church is Santo Domingo de Guzmán (1172−1221), the Spanish monk who founded the Dominican order. The Dominicans observed strict vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and in Mexico they protected the indigenous people from other colonists' excesses.

Nearly every square inch of the church's interior is decorated in 3-D relief: elaborate colored and gilt designs swirl around a profusion of painted figures. An elaborate family tree of Santo Domingo adorns the ceiling immediately inside the main entrance. Most elaborate of all is the decoration in the 18th-century Capilla de la Virgen del Rosario (Rosary Chapel) on the south side of the nave. The whole church takes on a magically warm glow during candlelit evening Masses.