The Cathedral is a very powerful building, with a Baroque style façade. It is situated at the center of the city.

The legend of the “Black Cross of Huatulco” is a pre-Hispanic legend about a mysterious bearded “fair-skin” tall man who came and visited the previous inhabitants of this land. Coming by way of the sea and bringing with him an oversized cross, it is said he planted the cross in the region of Huatulco (which is about four hour drive from the city of Oaxaca). The legend states that the mysterious man is said to have prayed with them, preached a new religion that claimed that there was only one God, and then left them but leaving the cross with them. Over the centuries the indigenous people performed rituals around this cross, worshipped it, and believed that it had miraculous powers.When the Aztec empire arrived to the region of Huatulco, they realized that the local inhabitants worshipped a cross. Thus, the Aztecs named their newly conquered district, Huatulco, which means, in nahuatl: “place where the wooden cross is venerated”.