Mitla - an ancient city in the eastern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The real name of the city is the Nahuatl Mictlan, which means "place of the dead."

Mitla - a city-state of Zapotec Indian people. At its peak, and it is 7-8 century BC, the city was inhabited by about 10 thousand people. This is the place of the ancient settlement of Aztec Yoo-PAA, the existence of which is evidenced by four of the palace, and two temple pyramids.

When the Spaniards came to Mexico with them came and Christianity. Sacred places of the city were destroyed, and from their ruins built the church of San Pablo. Its red domes to this day triumphantly rise above the other buildings. Many buildings Mitla can find their characteristic geometric mosaic patterns, covering almost all the walls. This pattern is found only here. One of the most entertaining of buildings - the Palace of the supreme ruler - a complex architectural structure, something similar to a labyrinth, it held four-meter columns, carved from monolithic stone.

Today the city is the archaeological site. Many tourists say that the city captivates with its mysticism that being here, a person experiences something like a trance.

On the site of the ancient refuge of the Mexican ancestors found a lot of household items: dishes made of ceramics, funerary urns and jewelry from precious metals and stones. Excavations on the site of Mitla not stop in our time.