Mexico Guide
Oaxaca
The cathedral
You can reach the rather inelegant cathedral, at the northwest corner of the square, by crossing to the Alameda de León, a more diminutive version of the main square. Begun in 1553, the cathedral's construction wasn't completed until the eighteenth century, thanks to several earthquakes. Since then it's been repeatedly pillaged and restored; as a result, despite a fine Baroque facade, it's not the most interesting of Oaxaca's churches. It is impressively large, though, with a heavy coro (choir) blocking the aisle in the heart of the church.