Church of Our Lady of Carmen, el Alto, Oaxaca

Main Altar,

As we leave the Cathedral of Oaxaca, we go past the ex Cloister of Saint Paul, then past the great Santo Domingo Church, and we gradually walk uphill, to "el alto", the "higher up", towards the Church of Our Lady of Carmen, "el alto", the "higher up".

 

Nave, Dome and Main altar.

Notice how the Churches of

the Carmelites always seem

so white and bright inside!

 

This place was once a temple here before the arrival of the Spanish, a temple, the Teocalli of Huaxyacac, where every July, a virgin was sacrificed,  in honor of Centeotl, the goddess of corn and agriculture.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Side altar in Carmen El Alto

This feast gave way to a new Christian feast, the Guelaguetza, a feast still celebrated here in Oaxaca every year. In place of the Teocalli, the established a hermitage in honor of the True Holy Cross.

 

At the end of the XVII century, the Hermitage was replaced by this Church in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmen.

Elegant street in Oaxaca leading up from the

area of the Cathedral to where Santo Domingo

 and Carmen el Alto are situated.

This ancient tree gives shade to

the dusty but pleasant atrium of

the Carmen el Alto Church