Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

From the Museo de Rufino Tamayo [1], continue three blocks west, past the University of Oaxaca School of Fine Arts and the airy Plaza of Dances, to the baroque Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.

Inside, the Virgen de la Soledad (Virgin of Solitude), the patron of Oaxaca, stands atop the altar with her five-pound solid golden crown, encrusted with 600 diamonds.

Step into the Museo de la Soledad (tel. 951/516-5076, 8 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4–7 p.m. daily) at the downhill side of the church, on the rear end. A multitude of objects of adornment—shells, paintings, jewelry—crowd cabinets, shelves, and aisles of musty rooms.

Large stained-glass panels tell of the images of Jesus and the Virgin that arrived miraculously in 1620, eventually becoming Oaxaca’s patron symbols.