Santa Fe
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Adobe Walls
Inside the oldest house in America, there isn’t much space when you have 2-foot thick adobe brick walls. Santa Fe has history like no where else in the U.S.!
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Oldest House
Across the street from the oldest church in America is the oldest house (foreground), built in 1646 as a private home by the Spanish and never really renovated.
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Crucifiction
Painted in the 1630s on buffalo hide and now hanging on the walls of San Miguel Chapel, this compilation of images from the Passion of Christ was used as a visual aid for teaching Christianity to Pueblo Indians.
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Layers of History
San Miguel chapel was damaged in 1640, burned in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and rebuilt again in 1710. An anonymous local artist created the altar screen in 1798, highlighting Saints Teresa of Avila (upper left), Clare of Assisi (upper right) and Francis of Assisi (middle left).
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Oldest Church
How old is Santa Fe? San Miguel Church in downtown is the oldest church in the continental U.S., built in about 1610, or a decade before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts!
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Harmonious Way
A detailed, two-panel painting by Douglas Johnson brings the natural elements of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes together to illustrate harmony. Johnson, who has lived with a Navajo weaver, is one of the New Mexico artists whose work is on display in the State Capitol building.
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Quetzalcoatl & The Master Ants
This elaborate cut paper art by Catalina Delgado Trunk hangs in the state Capitol hallways. Aztec myth says Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent god who created humans, became an ant in order to enter the master ant’s mountain to steal corn for people to eat.
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Woven Drawing
Local artist Carl Schuman uses colored pencils to create multi-layered drawing constructions like this one in the Capital building in Santa Fe. “Where All True Paths Meet” is part of the Capitol Art Foundation’s collection of New Mexico masterworks.
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Hacienda
The Capitol Art Foundation’s collection includes “Hacienda Shadow Play” by Santa Fe artist Albert Handell. Known for his painting workshops, Handell was one of the first American artists to paint en plain air with pastels.
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House Chamber
Big curves mark the layout of desks on the floor of the New Mexico House of Representatives and are mirrored in the overhead light fixtures. Of course, it is in a round building.
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Rotunda
The center of New Mexico’s Capitol Building features the seal of the state on the floor and a beautiful skylight above that is reminiscent of the designs on native pottery from the state.
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NM Capitol Building
Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, and this circular brown structure is the Capitol Building. Brown seems more appropriate than white marble in this city built of adobe and stone. And the sculptures outside are just the beginning of the artwork that can be found inside.
Words Are Inadequate 