Mitla

Mitla was the Zapotec and then Mixtec religious centre, and it stayed inhabited after the fall of Monte Albán. The name comes from the Nahuatl Mictlán, the place of the dead: it was a necropolis of high priests.

What makes it unique in Mesoamerica are the fretwork panels: geometric mosaics of thousands of small cut stones, dry-fitted into the wall without mortar. No two are alike, and nothing comparable exists elsewhere on the continent. A colonial church was built directly on one of the groups.