Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Santa Fe
A city of 70,000 people living
7,000 feet above sea level, Santa Fe is an
exotic and sophisticated place. The Native
Americans enlighten the area with view-
points and lifestyles deeply tied to nature
and completely contrary to the American
norm. Many of the Hispanics here still live
within extended families and practice a
devout Catholicism; they bring a slower
pace to the city and an appreciation for
deep-rooted ties. Meanwhile, a strong
cosmopolitan element contributes cutting-
edge cuisine, world-class opera, first-run
art films, and some of the finest artwork in
the world, seen easily while wandering on
foot from gallery to gallery, museum to
museum.
The city's history is told through its
architecture. For its first 2 centuries, it was
constructed mainly of adobe bricks. When
the U.S. took over the territory from
Mexico in 1846 and trade began flowing
from the eastern states, new tools and
materials began to change the face of the
city. The old adobe took on brick facades
and roof decoration in what became
known as the Territorial style. But the flat
roofs were retained so that the city never
lost its unique, low profile, creating a sense
of serenity found in no other U.S. city.
Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, the inspira-
tion for the character of Bishop Latour in
Willa Cather's
Death Comes for the Arch-
bishop,
built the French Romanesque St.
Francis Cathedral shortly after he was
appointed to head the diocese in 1851.
Other structures still standing include
what is claimed to be the oldest house in
the United States. The San Miguel Mis-
sion is the oldest mission church in the
country, while the state capitol, built in
the circular form of a ceremonial Indian
kiva, is among the newest in the U.S.
The city was originally named La Villa
Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de
Asis (the Royal City of the Holy Faith of
St. Francis of Assisi) by its founder, Span-
ish governor Don Pedro de Peralta. He
built the Palace of the Governors as his
capitol on the central plaza; today it's an
excellent museum of the city's 4 centuries
of history. It is one of the major attractions
in the Southwest, and under its portico,
Native Americans sell their crafts to eager
travelers, as they have done for decades.
The plaza is the focus of numerous
bustling art markets and Santa Fe's early
September fiesta, celebrated annually since
1770. The fiesta commemorates the time
following the years of the Pueblo revolt,
when Spanish governor Don Diego de
Vargas reconquered the city in 1692. The
plaza was also the terminus of the Santa Fe
Trail from Missouri, and of the earlier
Camino Real (Royal Rd.) from Mexico,
when the city thrived on the wool and fur
of the Chihuahua trade. Today, a central
gazebo makes a fun venue for summer
concerts.
What captures the eye most, though, is
the city's setting, backed by the rolling
hills and the blue peaks of the Sangre de
Cristo Mountains. In the summer, thun-
derheads build into giant swirling struc-
tures above those peaks and move over the
city, dropping cool rain. In the winter,
snow often covers the many flat-roofed
adobe homes, creating a poetic abstraction
that at every glance convinces you that the
place itself is exotic art.
