Oaxaca de Juárez

Oaxaca is a city in Mexico, high up in a valley between mountains.

More than 250,000 people lived there in 2020.

Oaxaca de Juárez is the capital of the state of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, says the French encyclopedia Larousse. It sits at about 1,650 meters above sea level, at the foot of the Sierra Madre del Sur. UNESCO places it in the central valleys of Oaxaca, a low area between two mountain ranges.

The 2020 census counted 258,913 people in the city. Larousse gave its wider metropolitan area 593,522 people at the 2010 census.

Larousse ('Oaxaca'): a city of southern Mexico, capital of the state of the same name, at the foot of the Sierra Madre del Sur at 1,650 m; 263,145 inhabitants (2010 census); metropolitan zone 593,522 (2010 census); a university; a craft (pottery) and tourist center; a museum with rich collections from Monte Albán. City Population (INEGI censuses): Oaxaca de Juárez main locality 251,985 (2000), 258,357 (2005), 255,532 (2010), 258,913 (15 March 2020); municipality 256,130, 265,033, 263,357, 270,955. UNESCO (site 415): the property lies in the region known as the central valleys of Oaxaca, in the depression between the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre del Sur.

Look at the glowing street lamps and the dark blue sky!

Low yellow and cream buildings line the street.

A photographer called Apsu09 took this photo in the center of Oaxaca on 3 August 2009, as night fell. Street lamps glow along a long, straight street, low yellow and cream buildings with tall windows line both sides, and dark clouds fill a deep blue sky.

UNESCO says Oaxaca lies in a region with many earthquakes, so its buildings have thick walls and are kept low. It counts 1,200 historic monuments in the city.

Commons: File:Oaxaca centro.jpg, by Apsu09 (own work, uploader = author; GFDL and CC BY 3.0), dated August 2009 (3 August 2009 in the Exif data); his Spanish description 'Centro de Oaxaca de Juárez' and his category 'Oaxaca de Juárez' (the categories on the night, the streets and the historic center were added on Commons later). An old photo (2009): the street may look different now. Seen in the 1,280-pixel copy: a straight street at dusk under street lamps, low yellow and cream buildings with tall windows, cars with lights far down the street, dark clouds in a deep blue sky. UNESCO: the city lies in a highly seismic zone, so its architecture is characterized by thick walls and low buildings; 1,200 historic monuments have been inventoried and listed. Wikidata from the city point (Q131429): Teatro Macedonio Alcalá (Q6139791), a theater and opera house, 0.22 km ENE; Museo Textil de Oaxaca (Q96758037) 0.25 km E; Museo Rufino Tamayo (Q6940515), an art museum, 0.37 km NNW.

People in Oaxaca make pottery by hand.

The city has museums full of treasures from long ago.

Larousse calls Oaxaca a center for crafts, especially pottery, and for tourism, with a university and a museum holding rich collections from Monte Albán. UNESCO says its mestizo people, of mixed Indigenous and European descent, keep old traditions and customs alive.

On Wikidata, the center has a textile museum, a theater, an art museum and an ethnobotanical garden, a garden of plants that people of the region use, all within about 0.75 kilometers of the city's point.

Larousse: a university; a craft (pottery) and tourist center; a museum with rich collections from Monte Albán. UNESCO: the mestizo population keeps both traditions and ancestral customs alive. Wikidata from the city point: Teatro Macedonio Alcalá 0.22 km ENE; Museo Textil de Oaxaca 0.25 km E; Museo Rufino Tamayo 0.37 km NNW; Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca (Q136120943) 0.68 km NNE; Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca 0.73 km NNE.