The main ceremonial center after Monte Albán, the word Mitla or Mictlan is of Nahuatl origin and means "Place of the Dead" or "Underworld" in Zapotec it is called "Lyobaa" which means "Place of Burials", which in Mexica became Mitlan, "place of the dead" and later Hispanicized as Mitla.
The Archaeological Complex and the current town are Zapotec; Mitla was inhabited since the classic period (100 to 650 AD) reaching its maximum growth and apogee in the post-classical period (750 to 1521 AD).
The most characteristic architecture of Mitla is that of the group of columns, where the Great House of Pezelao is located, an architectural complex considered in its kind as the most beautiful in all of America.
The group is made up of two quadrangles. The northern one is bounded by platforms on its four sides; the main building is located in the northern part; in the center of the patio there are vestiges of a shrine, whose wall is made on a slope, formed by two bands on which the base, the panel and the cornice rise.
The great Hall of Columns is rectangular in plan. Through this hall you enter the main Palace through a narrow door. Upon leaving the passage we find ourselves in the Patio de las Grecas, from where we will have access to each of the four rooms, decorated by three panels with mosaics of carved stone frets that form different geometric designs on each band; the frets are made up of thousands of polished stone tablets, set together without any mixture.
In the northern and eastern buildings are the most beautiful tombs, where the Zapotec priests and kings were buried; in the first, in front of the staircase, is the entrance to a cruciform tomb, with an antechamber; the ceiling has large monolithic stone lintels and the walls are decorated with panels and fretwork mosaics; the one to the east is characterized by a monolithic stone column that supports the roof.
The archaeological zone is located in the center of the town of Mitla on Benito Juárez street, on the corner of Juárez Avenue.
Gallery
Location Map
