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Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán
| Site number: | 415 |
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| Type of site: | Cultural | |
| Date: | -- | |
| Date of Inscription: | 1987 | |
| Location: | North America, Mexico, Etat de Oaxaca de Juarez, municipalites de Oaxaca, Xoxocotlan et Cuilapan | |
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| Description: | Over a period of 1,500 years, the historic Centre of Oaxaca has subsequently been inhabited by Olmecs, Zapotecs and Mixtecs. Monte Albán’s people literally carved terraces, dams, canals, pyramids and artificial mounds out of the mountain; they are now the symbols of a sacred topography. Illustrating Spanish colonial town planning is the neighbouring city of Oaxaca, which was erected on a grid pattern. The city's buildings are sturdy and voluminous confirming that these architectural gems were specifically tailored to the earthquake-prone region in which they were constructed. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available. | |
| The city of Oaxaca (formally: Oaxaca de Juárez, in honor of 19th-century president and national hero Benito Juárez, who was born nearby) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name. It is located in the Valley of Oaxaca in the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains, at 17°05′N 96°45′W / 17.083, -96.75Coordinates: 17°05′N 96°45′W / 17.083, -96.75 near the geographic center of the state, and at an altitude of about 1550 m (5000 feet). The important Monte Albán archaeological site is close to the city. As of the 2005 census, the official population of the city was 258,008 people. Including its surrounding municipality, the total rises to 265,033. However, the Oaxaca metropolitan area, which includes seventeen different municipalities, had a population of 500,970 inhabitants. Oaxaca municipality has an area of 85.48 km² (33 sq mi). Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca where the latter's northern Etla, eastern Tlacolula, and southern Zimatlán/Ocotlán (or Valle Grande) branches meet. The present-day state capital Oaxaca City is located approximately 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Monte Albán. The civic-ceremonial center of the Monte Albán site is situated atop an artificially-levelled ridge, which with an elevation of about 1940 m (6368 ft) above mean sea level rises some 400 m (1312 ft) from the valley floor. In addition to the aforementioned monumental core, the site is characterized by several hundred artificial terraces and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks (Blanton 1978). The archaeological ruins on the nearby Atzompa and El Gallo hills to the north are traditionally considered to be an integral part of the ancient city as well. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. | ||
| Source: | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/415 | |
| Reference: | 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page. | |