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The Cathedral of Oaxaca is located on the north side of the zócalo in front of the Alameda de León. To the northwest is the tourist office, to the southeast is the Hotel Marquez.
Construction of the Catedral began in 1535. It is built of green stone in the Baroque style with a basilical ground plan. The Catholic cathedral is richly decorated on the interior and features an ornately carved exterior.
It's thick, massive walls help it to survive the earthquakes of the region. |
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 A sign said not the climb the statue to take photos. |
 The organ, constructed 1711-1712 by Matías de Chávez, is located near the front entrance on a second-storey level facing forward. The organ was refurbished in 1997. |
 See Historic Organs of Oaxaca |
The first organ at the Catedral was a small instrument, imported from Spain or Mexico City. In 1569-70 the organ builder Agustín de Santiago was commissioned to build a larger organ and from then until the early twentieth century, there was always at least two organs in the Cathedral, located on each side of the choir loft. The current organ was built in 1711-1712 by Matías de Chávez, who reused three registers from the previous organ by Agustín de Santiago. At that time the organ had eight registers: Flute, Octave, Twelfth, Quincena, Veintidosena, Full, Bardón and Espigueta. In 1716 two unknown voices were added and in 1758 two more registors: Clarion and Trumpet. In 1716-17 Marcial Ruiz Maldonado replaced the small organ with a new instrument, also considered small or medium. During the 18th to 20th centuries there were many performances, all documented in the accounting records from the Cathedral.
In 1907-08 Sebastián Campelans dismantled the small organ, reused some of the components in the larger body and oversaw the relocation of the organ to the center of the choir loft, where it now stands. In 1911-12, Tomás Ríos modernized the organ: he installed a new secreto, board reduction, keyboard and bellows, changed the register action and raised the base of the organ some 70 centimeters. He could not finish his work and turned it over to an organist from Mexico named Suárez. In 1957 there was additional work done, the nature of which is unknown. The organ ceased to function in the 1970s and was silent until 1997 when it underwent reconstruction with the support of Fomento Social Banamex de la catedral de Oaxaca. In charge of the work was Mtra. Susan Tattershall, director of the Historic Organ Workshop of Mexico. During the project it became clear that most of the existing pipes were old, probably from the eighteenth century, although many had been altered, so the current instrument includes a mix of pipes, some old and some made in 1997. The top of the organ case, richly carved and gilded, is original, but the bottom was rebuilt with cedar due to damage from woodworms. The keyboard, also badly damaged, was replaced in 1997. The opening concert took place in January 1998 with the maestros José Suárez, Horacio Franco and Eliseo Martinez.
Source: Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca, A.C.
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