You drive through Mitla on a paved road to visit the remarkable ruins on the outskirts of town. Mitla is another of the Zapotec-Mixtec ceremonial centers. Intricately carved stone fretwork characterizes the facades of Mitla's temples. Arranged in a repetitive pattern, the designs are basically geometric. This was the fabled abode of Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Underworld, and a sacred city for the burial of Indian kings.
After the ruins, you pass the typical Mexican village of humble, nondescript buildings, pedestrians, perhaps a donkey piled high with fagots or wheat, and a public market. But Mitla has another resource-it is renowned for the weaving of fine textiles by primitive handweaving methods seldom seen outside the more remote areas of Latin America. The "Mitla design," with a stepped fret motif, comes from the stone patterns you see on the Mitla ruins.
Much of the weaving is done behind the walls of courtyards at the rear of the room in which handloomed articles are sold. But one establishment, on the left as you enter town from Highway 190, operates in a courtyard where you can see artisans meticulously weaving the threads of a creatively designed piece of cloth.
You drive through Mitla on a paved road to visit the remarkable ruins on the outskirts of town. Mitla is another of the Zapotec-Mixtec ceremonial centers. Intricately carved stone fretwork characterizes the facades of Mitla's temples. Arranged in a repetitive pattern, the designs are basically geometric. This was the fabled abode of Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Underworld, and a sacred city for the burial of Indian kings.
Much of the weaving is done behind the walls of courtyards at the rear of the room in which handloomed articles are sold. But one establishment, on the left as you enter town from Highway 190, operates in a courtyard where you can see artisans meticulously weaving the threads of a creatively designed piece of cloth.
