More of a fantasyland than a reality, Antigua tends to make other cities jealous with its jaw dropping setting. Streets dress in bougainvillea as three volcanoes stand in between, Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Pastel facades top with terracotta roofs while avocadoes spring up just outside. Antigua sounds too good to be true in appearance and perhaps also for what the city contains, a wealth of museums, impressive architecture and meeting points to make anyone want to linger on its cobbled streets.
Antigua’s architecture may be its most famed attraction. The high arched passageways and beautiful gardens and courtyards of Las Capuchinas offers up some of the city’s best architecture. Resembling a tower, Las Capuchinas was inaugurated in 1736 by nuns from Madrid. More of Antigua’s architecture shows off at Palacio de los Capitanes. Dating back to 1558, Palacio de los Capitanes may serve a practical purpose today as the tourist office and home to the national police, but the palace is admired for its stately doubled arcaded façade hailing from the 1760s. Palacio de los Capitanes was also once the governmental center of all of Central America, stretching from Chiapas to Costa Rica.
Most of life in Antigua plays out in the Parque Central. The board and exquisite plaza remains a gathering place for locals and visitors alike. The plaza distinguishes with a fountain based off of a 1738 original. More snippets of local life looms in the Antigua Market. Chaotic, colorful and buzzing, the Antigua Market fills villagers’ mornings with buy and selling.
Antigua’s Catedral de Santiago has been through the good times and the bad. Originally constructed in 1542, the church was demolished in 1668, rebuilt in 1669 and 1680, hit by earthquakes on occasion and rebuilt again between 1780 and 1820. Today, it rests illuminated angelically at night. Its sweeping brink archways, monstrous columns and underground crypts are of particular notice to travelers visiting the cathedral.
Antigua’s museum scene is extensive. The city holds the Museo de Arte Colonial. What was once the San Carlos University now houses sculptures of saints and paintings by leading Mexican artists. Visitors will find works by Miguel Cabrera and Juan de Correa. Down at City Hall, the Museo de Santiago fills with a variety of artifacts from portraits to cannons from Castillo San Felipe. Visitors will also find colonial era pottery within Museo de Santiago.
The city is not finished with its museums. Travelers can also head to Museo del Hermano Pedro. Within, relics from Iglesia de San Francisco can be found along with the well preserved personal belongings of Santo Hermano. The belongings are sacred to many as Santo Hermano was believed to have healed a number of people. On the flip side of the religious, Museo del Libro Antiguo holds the history of Guatemalan printing. A replica of the country’s first printing press rests within along with a room dedicated to the making of marbled paper.
Every view comes with a price. In Antigua, the fine views from Cerro de la Cruz look out over Volcan Agua. Taking in such beauty has been the target of muggers so it is best to go with an escort. Regardless, Cerro de la Cruz will lend the fantasy picture of Antigua and its surroundings.
From the city’s many museums to Antigua’s overall setting, visitors will find a place that always made beauty out of the ugly. Antigua may have faced countless earthquakes, floods and fires, but you wouldn’t know it. The city puts on a great face, decorated in tropical gardens and plazas. Paradise can be both city and country in Antigua.
