The plaza de la danza and jardín
Sócrates are at the foot of Fort Hill, formerly
called La Soledad or Calvary. They
are part of the La Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, and Temple and
former Convent of San José. The
space is divided into three distinct areas: the atrium of La Soledad, the plaza
de la danza and jardín Sócrates.
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| La plaza de la danza during the feast of La Soledad |
The plaza de la danza was built
in 1959 by Sr. Eduardo Vasconcelos for the aesthetic education and recreation
of the people. It is at the highest level of the three plazas. Here Oaxaca holds cultural events hosts
performances by artists, orchestras and school folk dance events. It also gets used for an occasional
fireworks display, the feast for La Soledad which lasts more than a week, the
police do occasional training here, and when otherwise not in use you can find
skateboarders. The square is built entirely with stone blocks, taking advantage
of the natural slope of the hill to make bleachers on the north side. This plaza, since its inception, has
been a beautiful setting where important folk events take place including the
choreographic display the history of Lunes del Cerro that in the Zapotec
language is known as the Bani Stui Gulal, representing antiquity from the
pre-Hispanic, to the colonial, to the contemporary.
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| Luminaries being launched in the Plaza de la Danza in December 2010 |
The Jardín Sócrates is located below and to the southeast of the Plaza de la
Danza and directly east of the atrium of La Soledad. Walk out the door of the atrium and you are in the
garden. Formerly known as the
plaza de la Soledad, it was converted into a public garden in 1881. In 1981 the garden was remodeled,
another green stone floor installed, electrical service provided along with
public restrooms. It’s only claim
as a garden are several large trees providing shade. As of today it has been undergoing a second remodeling with
tile placed over the stone, newer electrical service, remodeled public
restrooms, and the badly warn stairs covered in new green stone. The work is ongoing.
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| Choose your flavor at one of the nieve vendors in the Jardín Sócrates. |
In recent times it has been home to
vendors of "nieves
oaxaqueñas" which are temporarily located on the sidewalk of Independencia. Nieves are similar to Italian granitas. They may be made with or without milk
but not with cream or egg, unlike an Italian gelato. The fruit sugar water mixture is put into a metal cylinder,
then placed in an ice bath and given an occasional spin by hand. The frozen portion on the sides of the
cylinder are scraped off and served.
No mechanical moving parts involved. Here is your chance move out of your comfort zone and try
tuna (the fruit of the prickly pear cactus), guayaba, zapote negro, guanabana,
zarzamora, hierba buena (leaves of mentha spicata) or mezcal. If you want two flavors use ‘con’ not
‘y’, use ‘y’ and you just placed two orders with one flavor each.
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| The Temple of San Jose with the bleachers of the plaza de la Danza in front |
The Jesuits founded the temple
of San Jose in 1559. It collapsed
completely in 1696 due to several earthquakes and was rebuilt in 1728. The
convent was completed and occupied in 1744 by the nuns of St. Joseph. The church, small in size, has little
ornamentation inside. In 1893,
Archbishop Gillow acquired the ex-convent and it became a home for orphans and
the elderly abandoned after the revolution. It is currently under the
administration of the Autonomous University "Benito Juárez" de Oaxaca
and has been home to the School of Fine Arts since 1950. The temple is east of the plaza de la
danza.
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| A rare sight in Oaxaca, a new Maserati waiting to pick up a girl after her quince años |
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