San Pablo Villa de Mitla is a town and municipality in Mexico that is most famous for being the site of the Mitla archeological ruins.
It is part of the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region.
The town is also known for its handcrafted textiles, especially embroidered pieces and mezcal. The town also contains a museum containing a collection of Zapotec and Mixtec cultural items. The name “San Pablo” is in honor of Saint Paul, and “Mitla” is a hispanization of the Nahuatl name “Mictlán.” This is the name the Aztecs gave the old pre-Hispanic city before the Spanish arrived and means “land of the dead.” It is located in the Central Valleys regions of Oaxaca, 46 km from the city of Oaxaca, in the District of Tlacolula. The town has a cultural center or “Casa de Cultura,” which offers classes such as those in traditional dance.
thumb|left|Rugs and textiles for sale in San Pablo Villa de Mitla
There is a small open-air Handcrafts Market just outside the archeological zone. Most of crafts made and sold here are textiles, including hand-woven and hand-embroidered traditional clothing, hammocks, sarapes, rugs, handbags, tablecloths and other items. Necklaces and bracelets are braided from fibers and decorated with beads, seeds, small stones and/or ceramic figures. Many of the designs found on the textiles here come from pre-Hispanic codices and based on Zapotec mythological figures, but more moderns images such as those from modern Mexican painters can be found as well.
The town has two churches, one dedicated to Saint John the Apostle and the other dedicated to Saint Paul. Access to the church is through a portal decorated with pyramid-shaped crests and a niche.
The patron saint of the town, Saint Paul, is celebrated in January with a procession that begins at the Church of San Pablo in the archeological site, passes through the town cemetery and ends at the town center. Drinks of mezcal are offered free to attendees. Most of the population participates in the procession as well as musical groups, and fantasy figures such as giant monkeys are made for the occasion. It was formerly an inn named La Sorpresa, that operated mostly in the latter 19th century and early 20th by the Quero family. In the 1950s, the building was sold to American Edwin Robert Frissell. Frissell collected a large number of archeological pieces with which the museum was founded. The museum’s collection was enhanced with donations by Howard Leigh, who collected Zapotec art, and moved his collection here from the city of Oaxaca. The museum was inaugurated in 1950 and was sponsored by a civil association called the Junta Cultural Zapoteca de Mitla.
The museum has various rooms in which pieces are displayed to show the evolution of Zapotec and Mixtec art. Pieces include ceramics such as urns, jars, braziers and mortars, Frissell stipulated that upon his death, the Mexico City College (today UDLA) would have control of the collection and could not cede it to another institution. Another stipulation was that none of the pieces could be separated from the collection.
Mitla archeological site
thumb|View of the Palace with intricate fretwork
The main attraction is the ruins of the pre-Hispanic city of Mitla, which is best known for its buildings decorated with mosaics of small flat stones that fit together to create designs, especially fretwork. which cover a territory of 82.93km<sup>2</sup>.
There is primitive camping available at a small lake located behind a hill that is behind the archeological site; however, a local guide and good camping gear is strongly recommended. The region’s cuisine is based on moles such as negro, verde, amarillo and Colorado. Another popular dish is liver with eggs. Local drinks include hot chocolate made with water instead of milk, corn atole, atole with panela cheese or chocolate, “tejate”, pozole (a fermented corn/cacao drink), a drink made from a fruit called cilacayota and tepache. Mezcal is an important distilled drink here bottled both straight and flavored with additives. The flavored mescals are called “cremas” (crèmes) and come in flavors such as orange, coconut, coffee, lime and others.
The Day of the Dead is an important celebration here as the area has a history of being a place related to rest and the underworld. Ofrendas, or altars, are set up in homes for deceased loved ones.
Notable people
Restaurateur and author Bricia Lopez was born in San Pablo Villa de Mitla.