lanterned octagonal domes. The vaults were constructed later, perhaps in the 19th century. The squared apse is closed with a circular dome and cupola is not as high as the nave and is likely from the 16th century. Behind it is a larger octagonal dome that encloses the sanctuary, with one other dome enclosing the choir. The wall of the south atrium was originally part of a pre-Hispanic structure and still contains the mosaic fretwork which defines the Zapotec site. The interior of the church is notable for a large number of 16th-century and other colonial-era santos (statues of the saints), many of them done in well-preserved polychrome. The patron saint of the town, Saint Paul, is celebrated in January with a procession that begins at the Church of San Pablo in the archeological site, passes through the town cemetery and ends at the town center. Drinks of mezcal are offered free to attendees. Most of the population participates in the procession as well as musical groups, and fantasy figures such as giant monkeys are made for the occasion. On Benito Juarez Street in very near the Plaza Central is the Frissell Museum building. It was an inn named La Sorpresa, that operated mostly in the latter 19th century and early 20th by the Quero family. In the 1950s, the building was sold to American Edwin Robert Frissell. Frissell collected a large number of archeological pieces with which the museum was founded. The museum’s collection was enhanced with donations by Howard Leigh, who collected Zapotec art, and moved his collection here from the city of Oaxaca. The museum was inaugurated in 1950 and was sponsored by a civil association called the Junta Cultural Zapoteca de Mitla. The museum had various rooms in which the pieces were displayed to show the evolution of Zapotec and Mixtec art. Pieces included ceramics such as urns, jars, braziers and mortars, those made of jade and obsidian, a large number of idols, axes and other pieces. The museum's collection is estimated at between 40,000 and 80,000 pieces, and it was known as having the largest collection of Zapotec cultural items. The museum was closed without explanation in 1995 and from then until 2001, no one had any idea what was happening. From 2001 Rufino Aguilar Quero and attorneys investigated, and found contracts that specified the conditions of the donations of the pieces by Frissell to