Templo Mayor de Santo Domingo (Mexico City)

This baroque church north of the main square anchors one of the most harmonious colonial squares in Mexico City, the Plaza de Santo Domingo. Its reddish tezontle and pale stone facade, carved in the eighteenth century, faces an arcaded portal beneath which public scribes have long set up their typewriters to help clients with letters and documents. The former Dominican precinct once dominated the district, and nearby stands the imposing building of the colonial Inquisition. The square retains a strong sense of the old viceregal city.