Comitan de Domínguez

A beautiful colonial city and the doorway to amazing waterfalls, lakes and archeological sites

The original village, named Balún Canán “the Place of the Nine Stars”, was founded on a swamp by a group of tzeltal indians. In 1486 they were conquered by the Aztec, who changed it’s name to Komil-tlan, which means in nahuatl “Place of Potters” or “Place far from fevers”.
As the centuries passed by, through military and religious interventions, the town went through various changes in name and localization until, in 1934, it received it’s official name, Comitán de Domínguez, named after Belisario Dominguez, a mexican civic hero born in Comitán, and is now considered by the state a protected historic monument area.

Comitán de Dominguez boasts of prominent religious buildings like the temple of San Sebastián (1525), the main temple in town, Santo Domingo de Guzmán (1678) with it’s imposing tower reminiscent of the moorish style seen in colonial Chiapas art.The temples of San Caralampio, San José and Guadalupe from the 19th century, and the houses, with their neoclassical friezes and ledges, fences, wooden balconies, and iron bars alternating with red tiled rooftops mix the popular and neoclassical styles in Comitán giving the city a unique homogeneity.

The city’s downtown has witnessed centuries of history, mainly it’s building history; the remodeling that has been taking place on the last few years has given the city back it’s dignity and allows visitors to be close to the great milestones of Comitán’s unique character.

The central plaza in Comitán, distinguished by the great temple of Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Comitán’s patron saint), in spite of the various modifications it has suffered throughout the years, remains one of the most beautiful plazas in the state of Chiapas.

Surrounding the plaza, the different architectural styles of the city can be appreciated, from the moorish influence seen in the tower and the craftsmanship of Santo Domingo to the neoclassical style of the City’s Theater and the typical wooden doorways of Comitán.

Another beautiful example of the traditional architecture of Comitán is the House-Museum Belisario Dominguez, once the mexican hero’s abode. Other sites that exemplify the variety of styles found here include the cultural center “Rosario Castellanos” built on the 1930’s where a dominic convent used to stand. The Municipal Palace from the 19th century and the Calvario temple showing typical guatemalan baroque styles in it’s facade.

WHAT TO DO

• Walk through the historical downtown
• Visit the museums and monuments
• Visit the Plaza
• Visit the archeological site of Tenam Puente and La Rejoya

The best time to visit Comitán is from November to January, when the landscape is predominantly green and the weather is temperate, mostly in the low lands. The rainy season is from May to October.

March and April are the least recommended due to the haze produced by the plantation burnings that occur during these months.