Mitla - Patio of the Crosses

(Local Name: Patio de las Cruces) The Patio de las Cruces (Patio of the Crosses) adjoins the Patio de las Grecas on its south side and is itself bordered to the east by a building with a magnificent colonnaded entrance, also hewn from heavy square stone blocks.

In front of this is an underground cross-shaped burial chamber. This is also decorated with meander mosaics for which larger stone slabs were used. This well-preserved tomb was found plundered, as were a number of others in Mitla. The tomb, also cruxiform, situated on the north side was borne by a column called the Columna de la Muerte (Column of Death). Visitors embrace this column and measure how much of it they cannot reach. This is said to indicate how long they have left to live.