Of the 27 churches in Oaxaca, none can equal the splendor of this one's interior. The church was started in the 1550s by Dominican friars and finished a century later; it contains the work of the best artists of that period. Ornate plaster statues and flowers cover the extravagantly gilded walls and ceiling. When the sun shines through the yellow stained-glass window, it casts a golden glow over the interior, like a baroque vision of heaven. As you enter, look up at the ceiling formed by the choir loft to examine the elaborate organizational tree of the Dominican order, which starts with don Domingo de Guzmán, Saint Dominic himself.