Santo Domingo is one of the largest of the pueblos, having a population of nearly 1500. It is also the most conservative in retention of its native culture. This makes its dances and dress of particular interest to the visitor to New Mexico. The present pueblo was established after the reconquest in 1692. The Indians of Santo Domingo took a particularly active part in the Pueblo Revolt, killing three padres resident at the pueblo. When de Vargas moved to retake Santo Domingo, he found the people had abandoned the village. They had constructed a village in the Jemez Mountains to the west, and it was there that de Vargas defeated them. Even then, the people of Santo Domingo did not give up the fight, and only after a long series of defeats and serious loss of life did they surrender and again return to the vicinity of their original village. The church at Santo Domingo is not so old as many other pueblo edifices, but its qualities remain among the most typical aspects of early New Mexico mission architecture. In early August, during the great annual festival, the Indians completely clean and whitewash the church. Two large horses are painted on the front of the building by native artists. The dances during the Santo Domingo festival are among the most colorful and authentic in New Mexico. Taos Pueblo Taos represents the northernmost of the pueblos in New Mexico. It is also one of the most scenic, lying at the foot of the Taos Mountains, a spur of the mighty Sangre de Cristo range. It is a prosperous village of about 900 persons. There is no finer example of pueblo apartment architecture in New Mexico. The main pueblo building rises five stories above the mesa. One must be careful not to confuse the Spanish town, don Fernando de Taos, and the old Indian farming center, Ranchos de Taos, with the pueblo, San Geronimo de Taos. It is the latter that is Indian and is, therefore, by far the oldest of the three.