Cuilapan de Guerrero

Southwest of Oaxaca City [1], on the old road between Zaachila [2] and Arrazola [3], Cuilapan de Guerrero is famous for its elaborate but unfinished Ex-Convento de Santiago, or Saint James (visible from the highway, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily), where Vicente Guerrero, father of the Mexican republic, was infamously executed in 1831.

Although construction began in 1535, the cost of the basilica and associated monastery began to balloon. In 1550, King Philip demanded humility and moderation of the builders, whose work was finally ended by a 1570 court ruling.

The extravagances—the soaring, roofless basilica, magnificent baptismal font, splendid Gothic cloister, and elaborate frescoes—remain as national treasures.