Designated a UNESCO Creative City, Santa Fe is known throughout the world for the way its natural beauty, which is defined by strikingly blue skies that rise over bright white arroyo expanses, has inspired centuries of painters, sculptors, and other artists. As a crossroads of Native American, Spanish, and Western American culture, it has developed a heritage within the visual arts that continues to live on in the many area galleries that, today, specialize in both traditional, often Pueblo Indian-inspired, art forms as well as modern, experimental works. Indeed, the area has not only been home to western painters like Georgia O’Keefe, whose work continues to be shown by many galleries in Santa Fe, but also a source of inspiration for a variety of landscape photographers, including Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams. The written word has also played a major role within the development of this international cultural mecca, as a variety of noted authors, including D.H. Lawrence, Walker Percy, Douglas Adams, and Cormac McCarthy, have called it home. Even in an era of ubiquitous telecommunication, numerous writing colonies and other retreats that cater to both creative professionals and amateurs dot this city which, as New Mexico’s fourth largest, also serves as its capital. Individuals who are more interested in simply experiencing the sublime profundity of the American Southwest rather than reflecting on it through their own art have a plethora of recreational activities to choose from, however, including hiking or biking along the trails that weave outward into the high desert. As it’s slightly cooler than much of the surrounding terrain, Santa Fe is also a place that’s comfortable to live in throughout the year, especially when the naturally efficient and proven advantages of its Spanish Territorial and Pueblo style homes are taken into consideration. Inherently cool in the summer and warm in the winter, this style has been in continuous use throughout the region for centuries, as is evidenced by many of the older structures in Santa Fe, including the chapel of San Miquel which, constructed in 1610, is believed to be the oldest standing church in the United States.