The Catholic Conquistadores were a lot like Trump, wanting to obliterate everything that came before them. They often sat their churches right on top of the most significant site of the local people.  Mitla is no exception.  It was built By the Zapotecs, and was their most important religious site.  It was later occupied by the Mixtecs, but Zapotecs still continue to populate the area.  The Catholics built the church atop the main part of the ruin to “keep the devil from escaping.”

The site is noted for its intricate cut stone friezes, which are held together without mortar.  Nothing like this exists elsewhere in the Americas.

An example of some of the remnants of the codices which filled all of the doorways in the main area.  They are mostly gone, destroyed by weather and tourists.

I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get into the tombs.  I have no idea where everything ransacked from them went.

There is a lot of great street art in Mitla.  I had the taxi driver stop a couple of times to take these.