Temple and Former Convent of Santiago Apostol de Cuilapam, Oaxaca

Placed on a gentle rise overlooking the Oaxaca Valley, the Temple and Former Convent of Santiago Apóstol de Cuilapam is one of the most ambitious-and intriguingly unfinished-colonial complexes. Construction began in the 1550s under the Dominican order, using distinctive green-tinged quarried stone and river rock to fashion a monumental single-naved church, an open-air basilica, and a lofty Gothic cloister supported by 50-foot-tall columns.

Though never fully completed-and largely abandoned by the 17th century when the local population declined-the fortress-like ruins evoke the scale of its founders’ evangelizing mission. The site even witnessed the 1831 execution of Mexico’s early president Vicente Guerrero on its grounds, cementing its role in both religious and national history.

Inside, the convent’s decorative murals offer a rare testament to early missionary strategy, weaving indigenous Mixtec and Zapotec motifs into Christian iconography to ease the transition to Catholic worship. Today, the roofless basilica and cloister are being actively maintained, together with restorations of sixteenth-century frescoes and preservation of a small museum of liturgical artifacts and Zapotec stone carvings. Hidden stairways, vaulted corridors, and the remnants of a nearby water-powered gristmill testify to the site’s once-vibrant monastic life.
Although its grand façade remains incomplete, a visit to Cuilapam delivers a poignant glimpse of early colonial ambition, cultural fusion, and the enduring power of stone and story.