Antigua Guatemala

The city of Antigua Guatemala, whose official and historical name was Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala (1542-1776), is the head from the department of Sacatepéquez, Guatemala; It is located approximately 25 kilometers west of Guatemala City, and at an altitude of 1470 m a.s.l. no. m. Currently the city is located within the 20 most important cities in Guatemala.

During the viceregal era it was known as Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, and it was the capital of the General Captaincy of Guatemala, between 1541 and 1776, the year in which the capital was transferred to Valle de la Ermita after the earthquakes de Santa Marta ruined the city for the third time in the same century, a fact that the civil authorities used as an excuse to weaken the ecclesiastical authorities —following the recommendations of the Bourbon Reforms undertaken by the Spanish crown in the second half of the century xviii— forcing the regular orders to relocate from their stately convents to flimsy temporary structures in the new city.

After the transfer, the city was renamed «ruined Guatemala», «Santiago de Guatemala antiguo» and the «old city». It was abandoned by all the royal and municipal authorities, and in 1784 by the last two parishes: Candelaria and Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, also remaining without ecclesiastical authorities. A few years later, Archbishop Cayetano Francos y Monroy authorized the operation of three interim parishes that bore the name of their predecessors: San Sebastián, Candelaria and Los Remedios, where the largest number of works of religious art that remained in Antigua Guatemala were kept.

After the Independence of Central America in 1821, it recovered the category of city and was named as the head of the department of Sacatepéquez. Likewise, the State of Guatemala established circuits and districts for the application of justice through jury trials in 1825, and Antigua Guatemala was assigned as the seat of the homonymous circuit in district no. 8 (Sacatepéquez).

The city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

In the 21st century, it is a major Guatemalan tourist destination for its well-preserved Spanish Baroque architecture with New World Baroque facades, as well as a large number of ruins of Catholic churches, even after the severe damage that their structures suffered due to the abandonment in which they were between 1776 and 1940 and by the earthquakes of 1874, 1917 and 1976. It is also recognized for the solemn Holy Week processions that have been held annually since before the transfer of the capital to Nueva Guatemala. According to the official 2018 census, it has a population of 46,054 inhabitants.

Toponymy

Many of the names of the municipalities and towns in Guatemala consist of two parts: the name of the Catholic saint venerated on the day they were founded and a description with Nahuatl roots; in the case of the Noble City of Santiago of the Knights of Guatemala, the name was given in honor of Apostle Santiago.

The place name “Guatemala”

The first historical documents in which the name of Guatemala appears written are the letters of relationship that Pedro de Alvarado sent to Hernán Cortés in 1524. In the aforementioned letters, the name of Guatemala is written in the same way in which it is ago now and that it is surely the hispanicization of the word Quauhtemalan ("place of many trees") of Nahuatl origin, which was the name by which the Cakchiquel city and nation was known by the Mexican auxiliaries who accompanied the Alvarado and Cortés.

The place name “Antigua Guatemala”

After the earthquakes in Santa Marta that partially destroyed it in 1773, the city was abandoned by all the royal and municipal authorities between 1774 and 1778 and in 1784 by the last two parishes: Candelaria and Los Remedios, also remaining without ecclesiastical authorities. From that moment on the city began to be called "ruined Guatemala", "old Santiago de Guatemala" and the "old city".

Physical geography

Geographic location

The modern municipality of Antigua Guatemala is surrounded by municipalities from the department of Sacatepéquez:

• Northwest: Santo Domingo Xenacoj, Jocotenango and Pastors
• This: San Bartolomé Milpas Altas, Saint Lucia Milpas Altas, Magdalena Milpas Altas
• Sureste: Holy Mary of Jesus
• Southwest: Old Town
• West: San Antonio Aguas Calientes

Northwest: Santo Domingo Xenacoj, Jocotenango y Pastores
West: San Antonio Aguas Calientes		This: San Bartolomé Milpas Altas, Saint Lucia Milpas Altas, Magdalena Milpas Altas
Southwest: Old Town		Sureste: Holy Mary of Jesus

Hydrography

Since its foundation, the history of the city of La Antigua Guatemala is associated with the floods and overflows of the Pensativo River, which occur due to the geographical position of the city, which is located in the middle of mountains and hills that they cause floods in the river flow when there is excess rainfall in the area. In addition, these floods are affected by the narrowness of the river bed and the bridges that have been built over it.

The cleaning of sand, stones and logs from the bottom of the canal was done every year before the rains began. To carry out these cleanings, small crews of approximately twenty people per sector were used, these being normally hired by the city council and equipped with shovels, pickaxes and hoes. The workers cleaned the channel by throwing the material to the sides, only achieving that the river would rise year by year and seek a new channel. At each flood, silted houses or streets were completely cleaned, while only enough of the riverbed was cleared for the river to continue to flow.

Excavations carried out in 1997 at the northern end of the land occupied by the Santo Domingo Convent found a washing place of colonial construction, buried at a depth of 0.70 m; Likewise, at a depth of 3.95 m, exactly under the Matasanos bridge, a cobbled street appeared that was in a southeast to northwest direction. The direction and location of this street is in accordance with the Matasanos alley that leads to the bridge of the same name., and which appears in the plan drawn up in 1773 by the surveyor José Rivera y Gálvez, in the plan of streets and water distribution of the Las Cañas aqueduct of 1833 and in a painting of the water collection system of the Las Cañas aqueduct, painted in 1840.

The Pensativo River has changed course approximately forty meters to the west and has undermined part of the last block on the south side of the alley that runs from the ruins of the La Concepción convent to the Matasanos bridge. It was placed inside the block next to the Matasanos arch and the Las Monjas arch, which disappeared after the city was abandoned in 1773. Only the Matasanos arch was rebuilt, possibly approximately 40 m to the west of its former position. Also part of the block where the Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción Convent was located; the river left its colonial course about 50 m to the east in this block. It also flooded the plaza of the church of the Cruz del Milagro, which was located in front and on the eastern side of the hermitage; In this place you can clearly appreciate the change in level and course of the river, since it now passes next to what was the sacristy of the church. The level has risen 2.07 m above what was the original level of the square. And, finally, it also flooded the back of the Beaterio and the Hospital de Belén.

In the 21st century there is only one street on the side of the Chipilapa neighborhood, which borders the course of the river and goes from the old hermitage of La Cruz del Milagro, passing through the ruins of the Holy Cross, until reaching the bridge that is located south of Belén.

Climate

The city of Antigua Guatemala has a temperate sub-humid climate (Köppen Classification: Cwb).

Average climate parameters of Antigua Guatemala
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	22.5	23.4	24.7	25.0	24.7	23.6	23.5	23.8	23.1	22.7	22.8	22.3	23.5
Average temperature (°C)	16.6	17.2	18.3	19.1	19.5	19.4	19.0	19.0	18.7	18.3	17.7	16.8	18.3
Temp. medium (°C)	10.8	11.1	11.9	13.3	14.3	15.3	14.6	14.3	14.4	13.9	12.7	11.3	13.2
Total precipitation (mm)	1	3	4	25	118	231	170	141	220	131	16	5	1065
Source: Climate-Data.org

The rainy season occurs between the months of May to October, with an average of between 1057 and 1600 mm per year. This is the time when 90% of the total annual precipitation falls; the months of June and September are the ones with the highest rainfall. Due to the low groundwater storage capacity of the sub-basin, the Pensativo River has very high flows during the rainy season and very low ones in the summer, flows that, due to the great inclination of the mountains, acquire great speed in the rainy seasons. of more rain.

Natural hazards

The city is exposed to three natural phenomena:

• Eruptions of the Fire Volcano
• Earthquakes
• Pensative River floods

History

A sketch of the tragedy in Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala.

It was the third headquarters of the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which included the current States of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as Chiapas in Mexico. After the destruction by flood of the second city on September 11, 1541, located in the Almolonga Valley (San Miguel Escobar neighborhood in Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez in the xxi) on the slopes of the Agua Volcano —where it had been taken after abandoning the first settlement in Iximché (Tecpán) in 1527-. On September 27, a commission of two mayors and eleven citizens was elected to inspect the area and recommend a new place to move the city there, and two days later they returned, assuring that the ideal place was the Tianguecillo Valley, where he ordered the council that the settlers moved. But, before the transfer was carried out, the engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli, builder of cities and towns, arrived, who recommended that the city be transferred to the Valley of Panchoy —or Valle del Tuerto—, because «in it the danger of volcanoes is removed, which will never be able to flood it, it is sheltered from the North, with the hills that surround it; It has an abundance of waters, which, being born very high, run through this valley on the face of the earth, and can be easily channeled and carried everywhere; that said land is flat, and therefore comfortable for the formation of squares, streets and houses; and so dilated, that no matter how much increase the City takes, it will have land where it can be extended, up to eight or nine leagues around the circumvallation. [In addition], that said site is bathed in the sun at all times, and is so fertile, that it is covered with grass all year round, and in this part it is good for grazing beasts and cattle. [Finally], in its vicinity there is a large proportion for manufacturing tiles, bricks, and adobes, and in the hills that surround the valley there are quarries two or three miles away; and not far away is lime and plaster."

The new city was built starting in 1543 in the Panchoy Valley, and established as the head of the Royal Audience of Guatemala in 1549. During its development and splendor it was known as one of the most beautiful cities in the Spanish Indies. The city was laid out in a rectilinear fashion, with the streets oriented from north to south and from east to west, with a central square. For the ecclesiastical and government buildings, important places were designated around the central square; This square was also called Plaza Mayor, Plaza Real and Plaza de Armas. Between 1549 and 1563, the properties to the southeast of the main square were sold to the crown and occupied by the first president of the Real Audiencia de los Confines: the lawyer Alonso López Cerrato. who also served as governor and captain general. The building that was originally built was small with a coffered ceiling with a portal, a tile roof and adobe walls. The city was surrounded by three volcanoes, mountains, plains and hills; This territory was called "Valle de Guatemala" and had seventy-three towns, two villas and the city of Santiago de los Caballeros itself.

Due to the constant problems between the conquistadors and the representatives of the crown sent by the king of Spain, the Audiencia de los Confines was abolished in 1565. In 1570 the audience was reinstated, this time independent of the viceroy of Mexico and it was called the Audiencia of Guatemala.

The Franciscan monks were the first to move to the Panchoy Valley, the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, and built a chapel on the site where the Escuela de Cristo church was later built. This chapel was destroyed in 1575 by an earthquake and for the next ten years collections were made to build the new complex, two blocks from the previous one. The Franciscan complex became an important cultural and religious center for the entire Captaincy General of Guatemala: theologians, jurists, philosophers, physicists and mathematicians studied at his school in San Buenaventura, which was located where the ruins of the monastery are today. Cristóbal de Villalpando, Tomás de Merlo and Alonso de Paz also studied at the school.

The first construction of a cathedral church was begun in 1545 with rubble brought from the destroyed settlement in the Almolonga Valley; its construction was hampered by frequent earthquakes over the years.

Fuente de las Sirenas, placed by Diego de Porres in 1737, central plaza of Antigua Guatemala.

The city was the last resting place of the Spanish chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who was also buried in one of the churches; What was his last residence and other colonial historical sites are also preserved.

The construction of the Royal Houses for the residence of the Captain General and the oidores of the Real Audiencia de los Confines began in 1558. The Royal Treasury, the jail, the headquarters of the Dragon Battalion, the Hall of Weapons, the houses of the oidores and stables, orchards and cellars.

The Church, Convent and College of the Company of Jesus was created through Royal Decree of August 9, 1561. This Jesuit block, donated in part by the chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo, included three cloisters and a temple, and at least twelve Jesuits lived in it.

In the 16th century several major earthquakes occurred on the following dates: March 21, 1530, September 11, 1541, 1565, 1575, November 30, 1577 and December 23, 1585

Events of the 17th century

The Jesuits founded the Colegio de San Lucas de la Compañía de Jesús in 1608, which acquired great fame and was unrivaled in terms of teaching basic letters and grammar; it was attended by the most florid of Santiago society, such as Francisco Antonio Fuentes y Guzmán, the chronicler Francisco Vázquez and Pedro de Betancourt.

On July 18, 1626, the temple of the Society of Jesus was inaugurated, which underwent continuous renovations due to the constant earthquakes that struck the city over the centuries xvi to xviii.

The religious of San Juan de Dios founded their convent in 1636 and from then on they were in charge of the hospitals in the Captaincy General of Guatemala. The hospitals were: San Alejo —for indigenous people—, San Pedro —for ecclesiastics—, Santiago —for Spaniards and mulattoes—, San Lázaro. The latter was handed over to the Brothers of San Juan de Dios in 1667 by the Dominicans who had administered it until then and in 1685, San Alejo and Santiago joined, forming the hospital of San Juan de Dios.

The temple of the School of Christ was founded in the parish of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in 1664 and since 1689 it was known as the Congregation of San Felipe de Neri. For their part, around 1690 the Jesuits founded another school: the "San Francisco de Borja", where the poet and priest Rafael Landívar, S.J. later studied and served as rector.

In the 17th century there were two types of nuns: barefoot and urbanists.

The Holy Brother Peter

Pedro de San José de Betancur. Canario Franciscan missionary in Guatemala and founder of the Order of the Bethlemites. In the image, sculpture of the Holy in the Cave of the Holy Brother Pedro south of Tenerife.

Santo Hermano Pedro arrived in Guatemala in 1650 from his native Tenerife; upon disembarking he suffered a serious illness, during which he had the first opportunity to be with the poorest and most disinherited. After his recovery he wanted to carry out ecclesiastical studies but, unable to do so, he professed as a Franciscan tertiary in the Convent of San Francisco in Santiago de los Caballeros. He founded shelters for the poor, natives and homeless people and also founded the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Bethlehem in 1656, in order to serve the poor. On the other hand, he was the first literacy teacher in America and the Order of the Betlemitas, in turn, was the first religious order born in the American continent; Santo Hermano Pedro was a man ahead of his time, both in his methods for teaching the illiterate to read and write and in his treatment of the sick.

On April 7, 1669, the original temple of what would later become the Cathedral of Antigua Guatemala, was demolished and a second sanctuary was inaugurated in 1680 under the direction of Juan Pascual and José de Porres, there is also evidence that the Spanish engineer and image maker Martín de Andújar Cantos worked on its reconstruction.

First printing press in Guatemala

In 1660, the printer José de Pineda Ibarra arrived in Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, hired by the Guatemalan ecclesiastics. He worked in printing, binding, and buying and selling books. He died in 1681, and inherited the printing press from his son Antonio, who continued to operate it until his death in 1721.

Foundation of the Royal and Pontifical University of San Carlos Borromeo

Painting of 1676 showing the Cathedral almost finished.

Patio de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Carlos Borromeo. Photograph of 1971.

The first bishop of Guatemala, Francisco Marroquín, sent the Spanish Monarch a letter in 1548, in which he requested the founding of a university in Guatemala City, this request was not answered. Towards the end of his life, in 1562, Marroquín decided to leave a wealth in his will to found a college, that of Santo Tomás de Aquino, where classes in grammar, arts or philosophy and theology were taught. The beneficiaries of this pious work would be the children of poor Spaniards, since they could not move to cities where there were real universities, such as Mexico. The bishop's inheritance has also been interpreted as the origin of the university. However, the prelate was very clear about the difference between a college -student residence, with or without professorships- and a university or General Study, where degrees were awarded. In this regard, the historian John Tate Lanning affirms that: «This testament is so well known that some who have not even seen it have read in it many things that are not there. Nowhere does Marroquín mention a university, much less declare his intention to establish one..." managing".

The Jesuits stood in the way of the founding of the University, since they did not think that the Mercedarians, Franciscans and Dominicans would take the initiative in religious and educational matters. After several decades, allegations and petitions, King Carlos II issued a royal decree, dated January 31, 1676, which gave license to the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala to found a royal university or "General Study" - as universities were also called during the Spanish colony. This would be the third real and public university in Hispanic America, and the second in New Spain. After a conflictive organization process, five years after the royal certificate was issued, the University of San Carlos began the lessons of five of its nine chairs, on January 7, 1681, with more than sixty students enrolled and the Rector being Doctor José de Baños y Soto Mayor, archdeacon of the Cathedral, Preacher to the King of Spain and Doctor of the University of Osuna. The university was inaugurated under the patronage of San Carlos Borromeo, with Don Francisco Saraza y Arce dictating its statutes, a copy of those of Mexico which, in turn, were adapted from those of the University of Salamanca in Spain.

Some of the elected professors did not take possession of their seats, due to their occupations as attorneys and their early departure from the kingdom, others because they considered that their new category, as "interim" and not as "owners" of the chair, were not worthy of their prestige, and one more, the professor of medicine, never came to Guatemala because he was at the Royal University of Mexico reading another chair. The university constitution demanded academic freedom, likewise forced contrary philosophical doctrines to be read to motivate dialectic and discussion of ideas.

The San Carlos University of Guatemala received papal approval by bull on June 18, 1687, ten years after its founding and six years after classes began.

Other events of the 17th century

By 1678, the Palace of the General Captains was already a two-story building, with a portal and wooden columns and a tiled roof with eaves.

Both the chapel and the convent of San Francisco were expanded during the 17th century; in 1684 the structure was reinforced and managed to resist the earthquake of 1691. A new Franciscan church was built by Diego de Porres and inaugurated in 1702.

In 1685 two missionaries from the recoleto monks arrived in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, and when some monks of the order arrived in the following years, they asked permission from the City Council -local authorities elected by the Guatemalan Creoles- to build a monastery; but in 1695, the City Council let them know that there were not enough friars to justify the construction and that there were already enough monasteries in the city. Faced with this refusal, the friars turned to the Audiencia (authorities sent by the King of Spain) which did authorize the construction in 1700, by royal decree. In 1701 the construction of the buildings began, and six years later they were completed. laid the first stone of the church. In 1708 the convent, the library and the infirmary were completed. The church of La Recolección was inaugurated on May 23, 1717.

In the 17th century several major earthquakes occurred on February 13, 1651, March 4, 1679, and February 12, 1689.

Events of the 18th century

On August 5, 1717, the image of Jesús Nazareno de la Merced was consecrated; the image was transferred to the Church of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in zone 1 of Guatemala City, in 1776. Years before, the city of Santiago de los Caballeros had suffered the ravages of the 1717 San Miguel earthquakes, which they damaged the fabric of the city.

San Miguel earthquakes

Professor of the Order of the Immaculate Conception in Mexico. A similar outfit was used by the professive nuns of that order in Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala in the centuries xvii and xviii.

The strongest earthquakes that the city of Antigua Guatemala experienced before its final transfer in 1776 were the San Miguel earthquakes in 1717. On August 27 there was a very strong eruption of the Fuego Volcano, which lasted until August 30 of August; The residents of the city asked for help from the Holy Christ of the cathedral and from the Virgen del Socorro, who were the sworn patrons against the volcano's fire. On August 29, the Virgen del Rosario came out in procession after a century without going out and there were many more processions of saints until September 29, the day of San Miguel; the first earthquakes in the afternoon were slight, but at around 7 pm there was a strong tremor that forced the residents to leave their houses; The tremors and rumblings continued until four in the morning. The neighbors went out into the street and shouted confessing their sins, thinking the worst.

The San Miguel earthquakes damaged the city considerably. The Royal Palace suffered damage to some rooms and walls. There was also a partial abandonment of the city, a shortage of food, a lack of labor, and much damage to the city's buildings; in addition to numerous deaths and injuries. These earthquakes made the authorities think about moving the city to a new settlement less prone to seismic activity; the residents of the city strongly opposed the transfer, and even took over the Royal Palace in protest of it. In the end, the city did not move from its location, but the number of elements in the Dragon Battalion to safeguard order was increased considerably. Captain General Francisco Rodríguez de Rivas himself -who ruled from 1717 to 1724- donated from his own funds to rebuild the oratory of San Felipe Neri and the parish of El Calvario.

The damage to the palace was repaired by Diego de Porres, who finished composing it in 1720; although there are indications that there were more works by Porres until 1736.

The construction of the convent and church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza was approved by Felipe V in 1725 just when the nuns of the Order of Poor Clares Capuchinas arrived in the town. The work began in 1731 and was consecrated the year of 1736 under the supervision of Diego de Porres. It was the last convent founded in the city and later it was renamed the Convent of the Capuchins.

The reconstruction took place in 1730 under the direction of the architect Mayor Diego de Porres. Its façade boasts Renaissance architecture and is made of stone, like the Capuchinas church, a characteristic that differentiates it from the other temples in the town.

The earthquake of September 29, 1717 left the building of the Jesuit College of San Lucas uninhabitable; the earthquake split the tower and destroyed the cover, leaving the latter at two thirds of its height. The city's master builder, Diego de Porres, verified the damage to the building and calculated that it would take between five thousand and six thousand pesos to repair it. Three years later, the Jesuits had already rebuilt the building and, according to the Master Builder, it was much more beautiful than the original construction.

The main church of the city obtained the rank of Metropolitan Cathedral in 1743, becoming the most luxurious in Central America at that time.

San Casimiro earthquakes

General plan of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala shortly after the Earthquake of San Casimiro. Made by engineer Francisco Vela.

The earthquakes continued and on March 4, 1751, the San Casimiro earthquake damaged the city again. On that occasion, the Royal Palace suffered extensive damage and had to be completely rebuilt. The person in charge of the reconstruction was the chief architect Luis Diez de Navarro, who was asked by the authorities of the Spanish crown to make the building resemble the building of the seat of Creole power in Guatemala, the City Hall, and to have a columned portal. made of stone with domes in each sector of the intercolumnium, in addition to the vaulted ceiling of the complex.

The San Casimiro earthquake also completely damaged the dome of the Compañía de Jesús church, once again forcing the Jesuits to request the help of the faithful of the community to rebuild the building, which once again was classified as one of the most beautiful in all of Guatemala.

A period of prosperity begins after the earthquake and the city benefits from different public works among which are the paving of streets and the construction of aqueducts to bring drinking water. The perimeter of the Plaza Mayor is arranged, including the City Hall Palace, whose construction was completed between 1765 and 1768, and the Audiencia. On July 17, 1753, the renovation works of the cobblestone patio of the Compañía de Jesús temple were completed. The architect Juan de Dios Estrada was in charge of the construction of the Church of La Merced since 1749 and the ultra-Baroque style temple Guatemalan was inaugurated in 1767 and has two bell towers.

The Bourbon Reforms

King Carlos III of Spain, promoter of the Bourbon reforms.

In 1754, by virtue of a Royal Decree part of the Bourbon Reforms, all the parishes of the regular orders were transferred to the secular clergy.

In 1765 the Bourbon reforms of the Spanish Crown were published, which sought to recover royal power over the colonies and increase tax collection. With these reforms, tobacconists were created to control the production of intoxicating beverages, tobacco, gunpowder, cards and the patio of roosters. The royal treasury auctioned the tobacconist annually and an individual bought it, thus becoming the owner of the monopoly of a certain product. That same year, four sub-delegations of the Royal Treasury were created in San Salvador, Ciudad Real, Comayagua and León and the political-administrative structure of the Kingdom of Guatemala changed to fifteen provinces:

In addition to this administrative redistribution, the Spanish crown established a policy tending to diminish the power of the Catholic Church, which until then was practically absolute over the Spanish vassals. The policy of diminishing power of the church was based on the Enlightenment and had six main points: decline of the Jesuit cultural legacy, tendency towards a secular and secularized culture, decidedly rationalist attitude, of Cartesian heritage, valuation of natural science over dogma religious, a criticism of the role of the Church within society and its derivative organizations, especially brotherhoods and sororities, and favoring regalism.

The Earthquakes of Santa Marta (1773)

The transfer of the capital to New Guatemala (1776)

That's a missing chapter here. It is the largest event in the history of the city. In the meantime, see Transfer of the capital city.

After the transfer of the capital

After the transfer of the Recoletos to Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción in 1775, the La Recolección complex was sold to private individuals, who during the xixth century they used it as a stable, a soap factory and a sports complex. Material was even extracted from the ruins to carry out other constructions in the city, which was now called Antigua Guatemala. As for the old convent of the Capuchinas, it had been abandoned after the transfer of the city, and in 1813 it was sold for the archbishopric to individuals, who used it as a patio for drying coffee and as a dry cleaner.

The following also disappeared: the entire Santa Cruz neighborhood; the streets and inhabited places on the slopes of the hill located in the Chipilapa neighborhood; two alleys to the west of the church of San Francisco and some other streets and alleys further south.

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  Painting of the central park with the Parish of San Jose and improvised sheds for the collapsed columns of the Palace of the Captains Generales; 1840.

• 

  North view of the Palacio de los Capitanos Generales and the sheds where their columns were kept. Decade of 1860.

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  View of the city and the Water Volcano in 1875.

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  Parish of San Jose and Plaza Mayor, when the Palace of the General Captains had not yet been rebuilt; 1884.

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  Photography from the Manchén hill in 1896, a few blocks away from the main square. The palace of the General Captains and the temple of La Merced are distinguished, which is the closest.

Condition of the Recollection complex at the end of the century xix.

Antigua Guatemala. Calle del Arco de Santa Catalina.

Parish of San José in the old Cathedral of Santiago de la Antigua Guatemala. The parish, established in 1804, operates in what was previously the entrance to the cathedral, and its nave is where the southern bell tower of it was located.

A few years later, Archbishop Cayetano Francos y Monroy authorized the operation of three interim parishes that bore the name of their predecessors: San Sebastián, Candelaria and Los Remedios, where the largest number of works of religious art that remained in the old Guatemala. Despite the transfer of the image of Jesús Nazareno de la Merced to Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, the church of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes continued in use, as it did not suffer major damage and kept its images and altarpieces until 1813, when it was inaugurated. the Mercedarian church in the new city; even then, the altarpieces were sent to Nueva Guatemala but the church continued to function in Antigua Guatemala. In 1804, Archbishop Peñalver y Cárdenas decided to create the parish of El Señor San José in Antigua Guatemala, which incorporated three provisional parishes that functioned in the old churches of Candelaria, San Sebastián and Los Remedios. The assets of La Candelaria were transferred to the building of the old University of San Carlos Borromeo, and the abandoned church. The new parish received among the Candelaria assets an image of the Lord of the Descent, which has been venerated in the parish ever since.

In 1806, the priest Rafael José Luna, priest of San José, had the idea of using the ruins of the old cathedral as a parish; In 1814 the ecclesiastical chapter decided to accept the request and in 1819 some work began to remodel the building, collapsing ruined parts, such as the bell towers. Work was halted for a while, until it was restarted in 1832. When the work was finished, the parish of San José was moved from the old University building to the old cathedral, where it has been ever since. this new parish are not the originals of the cathedral: they were made in 1856.

After the Independence of Central America

The State of Guatemala was defined as follows by the Constituent Assembly of said state that issued its constitution on October 11, 1825: «the state will retain the name of State of Guatemala and they are formed by the peoples of Guatemala, reunited in a single body. The state of Guatemala is sovereign, independent and free in its government and internal administration."

Antigua Guatemala was one of the original districts of the State of Guatemala founded in 1825; the city was originally the head of the Sacatepéquez-Chimaltenango department, which included the municipalities of Jilotepeque, San Pedro Sacatepéquez, San Lucas Tejar, Chimaltenango, San Juan Sacatepéquez, and Patzún.

The constitution of the State of Guatemala promulgated on October 11, 1825 —and not on April 11, 1836, as numerous historians have incorrectly reported— created the districts and their corresponding circuits for the administration of justice according to the Code of Lívingston translated into Spanish by José Francisco Barrundia y Cepeda; Antigua Guatemala was the headquarters of the homonymous circuit in District No. 8 (Sacatepéquez), which also included San Cristóbal Alto, San Miguel Milpas Altas, Santa Ana, Magdalena, San Juan Cascón, Santa Lucía, Santo Tomás, Embaulada, Santiago, San Mateo, San Lucas, Pastores, Cauque, San Bartolomé, San Felipe, Ciudad Vieja, San Pedro Las Huertas, Alotenango, San Lorenzo, San Antonio, Dueñas, Zamora, Urías, Santa Catalina, San Andrés and San Bartolomé Aguas Calientes, Santa Mary and Saint John of the Bishop.

Earthquake of September 3, 1874

The old Palace of the General Captains began to be rebuilt in the second half of the xix century; For this reconstruction, the pillar columns of the façade portal were used, which had remained for almost a hundred years in improvised sheds in front of the Palace, on the south side of the Plaza Mayor. With the reconstruction, the less damaged sectors of the building were rehabilitated. building: the jail and the government. By 1850, the population of the city was around nine thousand inhabitants and in 1865 a weaving factory was installed between the walls of the church of the Company of Jesus, although this was not profitable due to the lack of qualified personnel and raw materials.

According to the American newspaper The New York Times, the earthquake in Guatemala on September 3, 1874 was the most devastating earthquake recorded in the world that year. Not only the town of Parramos was completely destroyed, but bands of outlaws armed with knives and other sharp weapons tried to assault the victims and steal what little they had left; Fortunately, the gangs were captured by the police of the government of General Justo Rufino Barrios and summarily executed.

The earthquakes began in August, but nobody paid attention to them because the population was used to tremors with a certain frequency; Furthermore, they did not prevent a grand gala from being held in honor of President Barrios' marriage to his young wife, Francisca Aparicio de Barrios.

A witness recounted that the quake felt like a combination of a long series of vertical and horizontal movements that made the ground appear to move in waves and rise up to a foot above their level normal.

Another witness indicated that the town of San Miguel Dueñas was totally destroyed, and those who managed to survive fled looking for safer areas. In total, there was $300,000 in losses; The affected towns apart from Antigua Guatemala, Dueñas, Parramos and Patzicía, were Jocotenango, San Pedro Sacatepéquez, Ciudad Vieja and Amatitlán.

Late 19th century

Priest Manuel Leal, who returned from exile in Mexico thanks to the amnesty granted by General José María Reyna Barrios in 1897, managed to build the temple of San Felipe in Antigua Guatemala.

In 1896, the writer Ramón Aceña described the city in an article for La Ilustración Guatemalteca, an official magazine published during the government of General José María Reyna Barrios; In his article, Aceña -who was a native of the city- describes the valley as the ideal place for a large city to settle, whose inhabitants would enjoy the best gifts that nature has to offer, and a very pleasant climate. most of the year. In addition to the ruins of civil and ecclesiastical buildings, the area was surrounded by plantations of coffee, sugar cane and other crops that extended throughout the plain, and even on the slopes of the surrounding hills; likewise, you could visit the carpentry workshops in Belén and the blacksmith workshops in the old Jesuit church. and whose façade had already been restored by the government of General Manuel Lisandro Barillas; At that time, the palace housed the Political Headquarters, the first section of the police, the first instance court, the first peace court, the women's prison, and the Sacatepéquez revenue administration.

In 1897, the Guatemalan writer Matilde Ariza Poitevín described that the Pensativo River was "like a silver thread in summer, but in winter it became a dirty and mighty torrent that washed away the trees and houses near its bed," while the Agua Volcano, located to the south of the town, was the least dangerous to ascend, since the path was covered in daily journeys and the spiral path that leads to the top revealed rocks and stones with inscriptions recorded by the innumerable travelers and it was mentioned that the excursion was not recommended for people with a delicate state of health, since near the top breathing became difficult. Entering the town "there were numerous temples and buildings ruined by whose cracks thick roots came out of the trees that had grown as a result of the abandonment in which the structures were; The Cathedral could be visited, but with difficulty since the neglect was such that the atmosphere was fetid and humid and nocturnal birds and bats abounded, giving the place a gloomy and gloomy aspect". For its part, the temple of La Merced did not it was ruined and housed old paintings of great merit; while the temple of San Felipe and the image of the Buried Lord that is venerated in it were already recognized. Ariza Poitevín also mentioned "the warm-temperature drinkable and medicinal waters that were in the surroundings of the city; the Almolonga baths were recognized for curing nervous conditions and those of Medina, for helping with skin problems. There were also those of Ciudad Vieja and del Cubo, although somewhat removed from the city center and which had to be reached by carriage, passing through roads that had coffee plantations on both sides.

Other noteworthy buildings at the end of the 19th century were: the colonial Town Hall, which then served as the headquarters of the municipal offices, the military command, the square prosecutor's office and the men's prison; the old University of San Carlos, where there was a boys' school and a theater in the assembly hall; the Jesuit convent that had become the normal school, and the hospital, which occupied an entire block and was well cared for at the time. Otherwise, the city was populated by low-income families.

In 1897, the return of the Guatemalan archbishop Ricardo Casanova y Estrada —exiled in Costa Rica from the government of General Manuel Lisandro Barillas Bercián— and various members of the secular clergy was allowed; Among those who returned was the priest Manuel Leal, professor of Summa Theology at the seminary, who had been in exile in Mexico. Upon arriving in Guatemala, he went to Antigua Guatemala and there he put all his efforts into obtaining enough alms to erect the temple of San Felipe.

At the end of the 19th century the archaeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay and his wife visited Guatemala; in their book A glimpse at Guatemala they describe how they found Antigua Guatemala: «Antigua was never totally deserted, and although it is now only half alive, it is somehow increasing in wealth and importance. There are religious services in the two or three churches that survived the disaster, although the rest of the religious structures are roofless and losing themselves in ruins. Others, which still have a roof, are used as blacksmith workshops, and there is even one that was converted into a large furniture factory. The destruction that began with the telluric movements has increased with other natural processes: there are trees growing inside the buildings, and small plants find shelter in every crack and crevice, while on the marble surfaces and on the adobe walls innumerable bees they build their lairs and unknowingly prepare the way for the destruction to continue with the heavy rains. There is very little that reminds the modern world traveler of Antigua, as it is in every way a charming old world place, with its long narrow streets, low white houses, charming courtyards and magnificent plaza."

Due to its damage, in 1912 the Compañía de Jesús building became a cantonal market until the 1976 earthquake, and then a crafts market.

20th century

Ruins abandoned from the convent of San Francisco in 1916. Photograph by Arnold Genthe.

Front of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph (1979)

Circular cell structure in the Capuchin Convent, still in good condition in 1916, as described by Prince William of Sweden in 1920.. Photograph by Arnold Genthe.

A family of scarce resources living in the ruins of Capuchins, as the Prince William of Sweden told in 1920.. Photograph by Arnold Genthe.

In April 1920, during the last days of the government of Licenciado Manuel Estrada Cabrera, Prince William of Sweden visited Antigua Guatemala and wrote his impressions in his book Between two continents (Entre two continents). His book is an objective description of the condition of the city and the deplorable state of the road between Guatemala City and Antigua: "for a short stretch when leaving Guatemala City the road It was in acceptable condition, but then you began to see small dunes and later streams that crossed the road, small ravines and landslides, since the area had been hit two years ago by the powerful 1917 earthquake and government corruption prevented there would be some recovery". As one advanced towards Antigua the mountains became steeper and steeper and the rocks more pronounced; In addition, on top of the road there was a layer of dust sixty centimeters high, which hid the potholes, but did not eliminate their effects on the structure of the vehicle. Along the road they saw long lines of indigenous people going to Guatemala City, carrying heavy loads on their backs with apparent ease; men, women and children carried something on their backs, and they did it with a quick step. And as for the traffic, there was none, save for one or two carts pulled by mules.

After passing Mixco, the road became even steeper, with a deep ravine on one side, and a ridge rising on the other; It was very common to find crosses on the side of the road, which marked the place where a traveler had lost his life. After reaching the highest point, they began the descent towards Antigua Guatemala. They were already arriving when a uniformed officer in torn and dirty clothing stopped them and welcomed them into the city: he was the commander and he was accompanied by six barefoot soldiers armed with wooden rifles. Compared with the deplorable state in which they were Where Guatemala City was located in 1920 - practically in ruins due to government neglect - Antigua Guatemala was fine, although the vast majority of the churches were dilapidated and completely abandoned. In many of the churches, only incomplete walls and collapsed domes remained, and some of them were even in deplorable conditions: Santa Clara served as a mule farm, while the Church of Gracia served as a shelter for a family of natives and their pets.

But there were some monuments in good condition:

• The parish of the School of Christ was one of the best preserved churches and undoubtedly the most picturesque, along with its convent that was still standing. The priest who received the prince and his three companions told them that all the gold and silver of the enclosure had already been sold by his predecessors and that he was very sorry that he could not sell anything to them, although the Swedes were not interested in such a purchase.
• The old convent of the Capuchins with its large number of underground passages between the cells of the monks and those of the nuns was a place worth visiting, especially the part where the cells were built in circle around a common courtyard.

In 1929, the journalist Víctor Miguel Díaz published The Romantic Colonial City, which is a guide to visit the historical monuments of Antigua Guatemala, and recounted what happened since the founding of Ciudad Vieja in 1527 until the Santa Marta Earthquakes in 1773. The essay does not include a rigorous analysis of the subject, but it does include a brief exposition of the history of the city, its main buildings and characters. Díaz's book was the first speech historiography that valued ecclesiastical works as part of the national patrimony outside their devout sphere, and was a useful instrument for international tourism that was already beginning to generate considerable foreign currency for the national treasury. The writer Díaz describes the main streets, temples and monuments of the colonial city, referring to some of the highly venerated sculptures that exist in the country and that were originally in the temples described.

On August 6, 1942, Antigua Guatemala was affected by an earthquake that occurred at 5:37 p.m. local time (23:37 UTC) and had a magnitude of 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale (M_w) and 7.9 on the Surface Wave Magnitude (M_s) scale. The earthquake caused extensive damage in the central and western highlands of Guatemala, and severely damaged the Palace of the Captains General. Thirty-eight people died in the earthquake.

In 1943, during the government of General Jorge Ubico, work began to preserve Capuchinas, and in 1950 the Institute of Anthropology and History of Guatemala carried out restoration work on the building. In 1944, the fountain in the main corridor of the convent of San Francisco was transferred to the convent of the Church of La Merced.

The “Old Book” museum in the city of Antigua Guatemala was founded by the distinguished journalists David Vela Salvatierra and Rigoberto Bran Azmitia on March 16, 1956; both went to great lengths to preserve these printed treasures.

On January 6, 1960, the Archbishop of Guatemala Mariano Rossell y Arellano returned the San Francisco complex to the Franciscan friars. In 1961, amid much controversy, they began the reconstruction of the temple, which was completed in 1967 The Franciscans had the help of the general president and engineer Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, and the members of the Committee for the Reconstruction of the Church.

Since 1972, the Capuchinas convent has housed the offices of the National Council for the Protection of La Antigua Guatemala.

On February 4, 1976, the region was shaken again by an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, which destroyed a large part of the country, and caused some damage to some buildings in the city such as the Palace of the Captains Generales, the Cathedral of San José, the churches of San Sebastián and San Francisco, where he knocked down the image of the Virgin Mary that was at the back of the main altar.

The city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, when the National Council of Sites and Monuments of said international entity recommended its registration on April 10 of that year, indicating that "it was a fundamental site, it had a well-understood history and an appropriate inscription". its main monuments were still preserved as ruins'; and that in addition, "in the space of less than three centuries in the city - built in a chessboard format inspired by the Italian Renaissance - numerous majestic monuments were erected".

The ruins of the Santo Domingo Convent were sold to private individuals and converted into the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo in 1989.

Cultural activity in Antigua Guatemala has been growing and with more and more participations. In 1992, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation acquired the commitment to restore the facilities in exchange for taking the old College for an "International Training Center", with the approval of the "National Council for the Protection of La Antigua Guatemala (CNPAG)»; That same year the Thought Summit was held at the Capuchinas Convent.

In 1998, the Heritage Program for Development of the AECID and the Municipality of La Antigua created the Municipal Workshop School based in the old College, standing out in emergency work in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, as well as in patrimonial interventions in the municipality and surrounding towns.

Panoramics of Antigua Guatemala.

21st century events

Due to the presence of the mortal remains of Santo Hermano Pedro, the church of San Francisco was elevated to the status of Archdiocesan Sanctuary by the Archbishop of Guatemala Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño on July 30, 2003.

In 2013 the 43rd was held. General Assembly of the Organization of American States in the facilities of the Santo Domingo Convent. Among the attendees was the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry, who toured the main tourist attractions of the city.

In 2018 the city hosted the XXVI Ibero-American Summit.

In 2019, between April and May, Antigua was the venue for the Buddy Bears exhibition. The 144 bear figures are made by international artists to promote tolerance and coexistence, and represent an equal number of member countries of the UN.

Street view in Antigua Guatemala.

Politics

On August 4, 1786, it was declared a town by royal decree and in 1788 the mayor of Sacatepéquez requested authorization to return to Antigua Guatemala. By 1799 two ordinary mayors and a trustee were appointed. The town was no longer the splendid city it once was, but the new town hall managed to revive Antigua Guatemala during the xix century. After independence in 1821, it recovered the category of city and was named as the head of the department of Sacatepéquez.

After being declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, the city experienced an exponential increase in tourist visits, which led to the displacement of numerous families to the municipalities of Ciudad Vieja and Jocotenango, as they sold their houses so that they could be converted into hotels, inns or nightclubs; With the tourist boom, problems were also created that the city did not have before: vehicular traffic, environmental pollution, insecurity, and disorderly urban growth.

Municipal government

Municipalities are regulated by various laws of the Republic, which establish their form of organization, matters relating to the conformation of their administrative bodies and the taxes earmarked for them. Although they are autonomous entities, they are subject to national legislation and the main laws that have governed them since 1985 are:

Antigua Guatemala City Council in the 1910s. Photograph by John Joseph of Jesus Yas.

The government of the municipalities is in charge of a Municipal Council while the municipal code —ordinary law that contains provisions that apply to all municipalities— establishes that «the municipal council is the superior collegiate body for deliberation and decision of municipal affairs […] and has its headquarters in the district of the municipal seat”; Article 33 of the aforementioned code establishes that "[t]he exercise of municipal government corresponds exclusively to the municipal council".

The municipal council is made up of the mayor, trustees and councilors, directly elected by universal and secret suffrage for a period of four years, with the possibility of being reelected.

There are also Auxiliary Mayor's Offices, Community Development Committees (COCODE), the Municipal Development Committee (COMUDE), cultural associations and work commissions. The auxiliary mayors are elected by the communities according to their principles and traditions, and meet with the municipal mayor on the first Sunday of each month, while the Community Development Committees and the Municipal Development Committee organize and facilitate the participation of the communities prioritizing needs and problems.

The mayors that have existed in the municipality have been:

In the xxi century, city authorities must face the following problems:

• Drinking water and drainage: many of the villages in the municipality of Antigua Guatemala do not have drinking water or drainage services, since most of these resources are destined to the municipal header, for its quality of World Heritage. But even in the city of Antigua Guatemala there are large floods during the rainy season, which are mainly due to the Pensative River, which has affected the city since the colonial era.
• Hearing pollution: the proliferation of nightclubs frequented by tourists and neighbors of Guatemala City during the weekends has caused excessive hearing pollution, which has not been counterbalanced in the last three decades.
• Contamination of solid wastes: tourists leave the city in deplorable state every weekend, mainly with solid waste on the street and human excretions on the sidewalks.
• Vehicular Transit: the city was not designed for motor vehicles and is not abated to conveniently circulate the cars that visit on weekends.

Distinguished politicians

Among the Guatemalan politicians who were born in Antigua Guatemala is Dr. Julio Domingo Bianchi Smout (1879-1958), who was a doctor and surgeon who had an outstanding participation in the "Unionist Party" that overthrew the government of Manuel Estrada Cabrera after 22 years of government, on April 14, 1920, and in the popular movements that ended with the resignation of President General Jorge Ubico Castañeda in June 1944.

Heritage

Colonial Monuments

San Francisco

Palace

City Council

Cathedral

University

Santo Domingo

La Merced

Capuchins

Collection

Location of colonial monuments in Antigua Guatemala

Before being named a National Monument by Decree Decree 2772 of the Republic approved by General Jorge Ubico on March 30, 1944, the ruins caused by the 1773 earthquake were practically abandoned. The following images show the destruction that caused the abandonment, and the additional destruction caused by the earthquakes of 1874, 1917-18 and 1976.

In the case of other ruins, such as Nuestra Señora del Carmen and those of the Company of Jesus, they had withstood the earthquakes of 1773, but the abandonment and subsequent earthquakes completely ruined them. In the particular case of the Church of San Francisco, it withstood the earthquakes of 1773 and 1917 well and was rebuilt in 1967 when the Franciscans returned to Guatemala, which protected it from the effects of the 1976 earthquake. As for the church from La Merced, this was practically new in 1773, and has withstood all the earthquakes since then; The church was not abandoned in 1776, but it was in 1829 when the Mercedarians were expelled from Central American territory by General Francisco Morazán along with the rest of the regular orders and members of the Conservative Party and the Aycinena Clan.

Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Antigua Guatemala

List of colonial monuments

Name	Image	Description
Palace of the General Captains		Former residence of the Captain General of the Kingdom of Guatemala during the colonial period. After the earthquakes of Santa Marta in 1773 it was abandoned and used as a winery until it was rehabilitated in 1936. It houses the offices of the Guatemalteco Institute of Tourism, Gremial of Tourism of Antigua, National Civil Police and the Departmental Government, among others.
City Hall Palace		It houses the offices of the Municipality of Antigua Guatemala. He is attributed his planning and construction to Luis Diez de Navarro, Juan de Dios Aristondo, and especially the greatest merit to Diego de Porres who was the Mayor of the City. It is located on the 4th. Street, opposite Central Park, on the side of the Cathedral. The façade is double archery with solid stone Tuscan columns and the eastern wall is covered with carved stone.
Cathedral of SantiagoParroquia de San José		The first building was begun in 1545 with the rubble brought from the destroyed settlement in the valley of Almolonga. Its construction was hindered by the frequent earthquakes. A second sanctuary would be opened in 1680. The cathedral range got it in 1743. The first cathedral housed the remains of the conqueror Pedro de Alvarado who had been transferred at the request of his daughter in 1568, but disappeared following his demolition.
Church of the Capuchins		Originally "Convento e Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza", was approved by Felipe V in 1725 just upon the arrival of the Order of Clarisas Capuchinas to the population. The work was started in 1731 and consecrated in 1736. The daily routine of the professed was governed by a strict regulation that included the maximum rules of poverty, penance and fasting; likewise, they should subsist on the alms provided by the faithful. After the earthquakes of Santa Marta, and although the convent was not completely affected, their property was transferred to the new Guatemala of the Assumption.
Church and convent of La Recolección		In 1685 two missionaries of the monks gathered arrived in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, and when some monks of the order arrived in the following years, they asked him permission to the City Council — local authorities chosen by the Guatemalan Creoles— to build a monastery; but in 1695, the City Council informed them that there were not enough friars to justify the construction and that there were also enough monasteries in the city. Faced with this refusal, the friars addressed the Audience—authorities sent by the King of Spain—which, if authorized the construction in 1700, by a royal decree. In 1701 the construction of the buildings began, and six years later the first stone of the church was placed. In 1708 the convent, the library and the infirmary were completed. The church was opened on May 23, 1717.
Church of San Francisco		The first sanctuary built in the same place in the middle of the century xvi He suffered deterioration in the year of 1565 because of a strong earthquake. The new construction continued to be affected by natural disasters, especially earthquakes. The church was rebuilt between 1961 and 1967 when the Franciscans recovered the property, and has been open to Catholic worship ever since. The façade of the church is adorned by salomonic columns and by two bell towers. Adjacent to the church, there are the ruins of the old Franciscan convent. The temple has a special chapel that houses the remains of the holy Brother Pedro de San José de Betancur, a missionary of Canarian origin.
Church and convent of Merced		The architect Juan de Dios Estrada was in charge of his construction since 1749 and the temple was opened in 1767; of an ultra-barroco style Guatemalan, it has two towers-campanarios.
Church, Convent and College of the Society of Jesus		Created through Real Cédula of August 9, 1561, donated in part by the chronist Bernal Díaz del Castillo, he understood three cloisters and a temple, and they came to live up to twelve Jesuits. He served as a College of St. Luke of the Society of Jesus from 1608 until the expulsion of the order in 1767: "The College acquired great fame and had no rival in the teaching of first letters and grammar. To him came the most flourishing of the society of Santiago, such as Francisco Antonio Fuentes and Guzmán, the chronicler Francisco Vázquez, Pedro de Betancourt and Rafael Landívar».
Convent of Santo Domingo		Originally one of the most important and large in the city, the Convent of Santo Domingo was destroyed in 1773 and was abating for the transfer of the Dominicans to its new site in Guatemala City. The ruins were sold to individuals and converted into Hotel Casa Santo Domingo in 1989. In 2013 the 43rd facility was held. General Assembly of the Organization of American States.
Church School of Christ		The temple was originally founded in the parish of the Vera Cruz in 1664 and since 1689 it was known as the Congregation of Saint Philip of Neri. Due to the earthquakes of San Miguel of 1717 the construction was damaged, its reconstruction was completed in 1730 under the direction of the architect Mayor Diego de Porres. In 1784, the School of Christ moved to Our Lady of Remedies, when the parents of this church moved to New Guatemala of the Assumption. The facade holds a Renaissance architecture and is made of stone, such as the church of the Capuchins, characteristic that the difference of the other temples of the town. On the other hand, in this place were the remains of Pedro de San José de Betancur.
Our Lady of the Carmen		The structure survived the earthquakes of 1773, but then was destroyed almost entirely by the earthquakes of 1917-18 and 1976. Despite all, its facade survived the earthquakes, it is in very good condition, and has since been admired as an example of the Guatemalan seismic baroque.
Hospital de San Pedro		The religious of Saint John of God founded their convent in 1636 and from then on they were in charge of the hospitals in the General Office of Guatemala. The hospital in San Pedro was the one that catered exclusively to the ecclesiastics.
Convent of the Conception		Recently restored to show the cloister of the novices and which has been mistakenly identified as the palace of Sister Juana de Maldonado. The cloister dates from the century xviii and the famous Guatemalan conceptionist nun lived in the century xvii.
Chapel of the Holy Cross		History marks the oldest hermitage (the hermitage of Saint Lucia was built in 1542, but its importance made the hermitage of the Holy Cross as the oldest). The Dominical Religious requested their construction in the Santa Cruz neighborhood in 1664. The hermitage arose in compliance with a catechizer, since it has a altarpiece with stucco designs.
Ruins of the Chapel of the Holy Cross of Miracle		It is located on the banks of the Pensative River and close to the convent of Concepción. The name and construction of this hermitage are under the legend that on May 12, 1683 a cross located in its streets of the place began to tremble prodigiously. It was rebuilt several times, such as the case of November 30, 1731, as well as the previous ones in 1728 and 1703, but it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1773.
Other sites of interest		Landivavar House Ruins of San José el Viejo Chapel Santa Isabel Former University of San Carlos de Borromeo Palacio de Doña Leonor (Casa Original de Doña Leonor de Alvarado) Church of Saint John of the Bishop Convent of Saint Teresa of Jesus Hermitage of Saint Jerome Tank of the Union Church of Saint Augustine Arc de Santa Catalina La Candelaria Hermitage of Calvary Ruins of Our Lady of Remedies Hermitage of Our Lady of the Dolores of Manchén Convent and Church of Our Lady of Bethlehem Convent of Santa Clara Hospital Real de Santiago Ruins of Santa Rosa de Lima

Hermano Pedro Route

Former tomb of Brother Peter, before being moved to the chapel of the Vera cross of the temple of San Francisco in 1990.

Commemorative tourist route of the canonization of Santo Hermano Pedro de San José de Betancourt, which allows a tour of the monuments of Antigua Guatemala through the life and work of Hermano Pedro.

The “Ruta del Peregrino” includes visits to the looms of Pedro Armengol, the monument to Hermano Pedro and the Arco del Matasanos, the Royal Hospital of Santiago, the Temple of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes and the monument and convent of the Company of Jesus.

Territorial organization and urban planning

Districts and neighborhoods

Urban structure

The city is arranged in a chessboard pattern, based on the Italian Renaissance trend prevalent in the centuries in which it was built.

Culture

Photo of the ruins of the church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen and Mercado de Artesanías El Carmen located on the side of the ruins of the church, Antigua Guatemala.

Cultural sites of interest

• Central Park of Antigua
• Centro Cultural La Azotea
• Museum of Ancient Arms
• Museums of Hotel Casa Santo Domingo
• Museum of the Old Book
• Jade Museum
• Museo del Traje Indígena
• Museo de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

Poets and writers

The main poets and writers from Antigua Guatemala are:

• Juana de Maldonado y Paz (1598-1666): Born with the name of Juana de Maldonado and Paz. He made the vows of nun in 1619 and lived until his death in 1666 in the convent of Conception. Sr. Juana de la Concepción had a great reputation in his time as music, poetess and brilliant polemist. She is sometimes compared to the Mexican poet Juana Inés de la Cruz.
• Maximum Soto Hall (1871-1944): writer, journalist and diplomat graduated from the Central National Institute for Males in Guatemala. Provided by families with great economic and political influence in Guatemala and Honduras, he was one of the most renowned writers in Guatemala at the end of the century xix and one of the most influential political and diplomatic characters during the Manuel Estrada Cabrera government.
• Rafael Landívar (1731-1793): poet and religious.
• Adrian Recinos (1886-1962): he was a politician, historian, essayist, diplomat and Guatemalan translator. He was a great scholar of national history, mainly of Mayan civilization and the ancient Maya manuscripts Quichés and Cakchiqueles. He was a professor, deputy and ambassador of Guatemala in several countries and a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in the 1944 elections.
• César Brañas (1899-1976): journalist, essayist, literary critic and poet. As a journalist, he collaborated for years in the newspaper The Impartial from which he was founder, he was in charge of the culture section and wrote a column to share his views on literary and artistic issues. He was declared a predilection son of Antigua Guatemala in 1947.
• Luis Cardoza and Aragon (1902-1992), poet, essayist and diplomat.

Musicians and painters

The most recognized artists from Antigua are:

• Manuel José de Quirós (1690?-1765), master composer.
• Tomás de Merlo (1694-1739), master painter.
• Rafael Antonio Castellanos (1725?-1791), master composer.
• Héctor Sitán (1963-current), master painter.

At the movies

The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935)

Puerto Barrios

Livingston

Quiriguá

Chichicastenango

Río Dulce

Antigua and Barbuda

Puerto San José

Selva Petenera

Guatemala City

Sites where the different scenes of the series were filmed The new adventures of Tarzan in 1935.

In 1935, the American independent film The New Adventures of Tarzan was filmed in Guatemala, part of which was filmed in Puerto Barrios, taking advantage of the facilities granted by the United Fruit railroad and shipping company Company and by the government of General Jorge Ubico Castañeda. The places where it was filmed were:

• Chichicastenango: scenes of the indigenous village where the explorers meet before leaving for Río Dulce. The church and the bridge of Gucumatz are appreciated.
• Antigua Guatemala: temple of the Green Goddess in the ruins of the San Francisco.
• Livingston: departure to the jungle in Petén
• Puerto Barrios: Arrival of explorers and departure to Europe
• Petenera jungle: jungle scenes
• Quiriguá: a city in ruins where explorers explain the origins of Maya culture.
• Guatemala City: the then luxurious Palace hotel was the scene of the hotel scenes of the imaginary village of At Mantique

The Border (1982)

The opening scenes of the Jack Nicholson film The Border were filmed in Antigua Guatemala, specifically at the La Recoleccion ruins.

The Silence of Neto (1994)

El Silencio de Neto is a Guatemalan film shot in Antigua Guatemala—representing Guatemala City in the 1950s—directed by Luis Argueta and starring Oscar Javier Almengor, Herbert Meneses, Julio Díaz and Ingrid Hernández, among others. The film takes place during the last days of the government of Colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán and shows how Neto Yepes, a twelve-year-old boy who suffers from asthma and is overprotected by his family, lived through those days in the history of Guatemala. It was the first film officially sent by Guatemala to the Oscars to be considered in the category of Best Foreign Film.

Intangible cultural heritage

Holy Week Celebration

Procession of Jesus of Merced in 2004.

Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala is the commemoration of the passion and death of Christ through the processions carried out by the brotherhoods of the city's parishes during the period between Palm Saturday and Resurrection Sunday. Throughout those days, the processions make their way through the streets of Antigua Guatemala, and have become one of the most important tourist attractions in Guatemala.

The processional parades of Holy Week transform the city during that period and are the result of the evolution over centuries of the forms, ways and manners of the brotherhoods, which count among their members people of all social classes. The evolution of these corporations has been influenced by multiple factors, both religious and artistic, social and historical.

Processions in Guatemala are characterized by colorful sawdust carpets that adorn the streets where they are carried on shoulders for periods of up to eighteen hours. The parades are accompanied throughout the tour by musical orchestras that perform funeral or festive marches made up mostly of national artists. The period of large processions begins on the First Thursday of Lent and continues with processions as representative as that of San Bartolomé Becerra on the fifth Friday of Lent. From that date until Good Friday, the processions take place throughout Lent and especially during Holy Week.

Sports

Sports entities

Antigua GFC Club

On December 20, 2015, the Antigua GFC club of the Guatemalan National Soccer League was proclaimed Guatemalan soccer champion for the first time after winning the return match against the Guastatoya team. The team was led by the Argentine Mauricio Tapia and had returned to the League in 2014 after buying the Heredia card, which due to financial reasons could no longer continue.

But on January 26, 2016, it was learned that at least seven players from the champion team would have given a positive result after the doping tests they were subjected to in the final phase of the tournament. The Standardization Committee of the National Football Federation of Guatemala —an entity that at that time was immersed in a deep crisis after discovering that its top leaders were involved in the FIFA corruption case— claimed to have received the report from the players they gave adverse analytical result. On January 28, the National Football Federation of Guatemala confirmed that the samples of the players Víctor Ayala, David Aroche, Alexander Robinson and Alejandro Díaz from Antigua GFC yielded adverse analytical results in high quantities, so the four players were provisionally suspended while the team requested Test B to take place.

Athletes

Among the most renowned athletes from Antigua are:

• José Rafael Cochita Godoy (1942-2005), football player and coach.
• Rafael Morales, football player.

Twinnings

The city of Antigua Guatemala is twinned with 23 cities which are:

Twinning cities

City	Jurisdiction	Country	Year
Valparaiso	Valparaiso Province	Chile	2010
Quito	Province of Pichincha	Ecuador	N/A
Sevilla	Province of Seville	Spain	N/A
Gáldar	Province of Las Palmas		2007
Montoro	Province of Córdoba		N/A
Vilaflor de Chasna	Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife		2023
Coral Gables	Florida	United States	N/A
Glendale	California		N/A
Oaxaca de Juárez	Oaxaca	Mexico	(1988)
Guadalupe	Zacatecas		1994
San Luis Potosí	San Luis Potosí		1994
Zapopan	Jalisco		2000
Cancun	Quintana Roo		(2002)
Metepec	State of Mexico		(2003)
Puebla de Zaragoza	Puebla		(2007)
Taxco	Guerrero		2011
Tlaquepaque	Jalisco		2011
Tuxtla Gutiérrez	Chiapas		N/A
Uruapan	Michoacán		N/A
Zacatecas	Zacatecas		N/A
San Felipe del Progreso	State of Mexico		2020
Grenada	Department of Grenada	Nicaragua	N/A
Estelí	Department of Estelí		N/A
Modi'ín	Central District	Israel	2021

Other denominations

• Since its foundation it was named "Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala". King Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman German Empire granted the coat of arms to the city of Santiago de Guatemala, conferred in the Villa de Medina del Campo on July 28, 1532. King Philip II of Spain gave him the title of "Very Noble and Very Leal City of Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala" (being Goathemala his previous writing), by Real Cédula signed at El Escorial on March 10, 1566.
• On February 17, 1838, the National Constituent Assembly granted him the title of "Benemerian City", because this city was the manager of the insurrection of that time.
• By Legislative Decree 2772 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala of March 30, 1944, it was declared "National Monument".
• The Congress of the Republic proclaims it for one day, Emeritus City, of public interest and of national convenience its preservation as a Jewel of the Central American Treasure.
• The 8th Assembly of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History, on July 7, 1965, declared it "Monumento de América".
• UNESCO in 1979, in Luxor, Egypt, declared the city of Antigua Guatemala as a "Patrimon of Humanity" including it on the list of the World Cultural Heritage Convention, with the number 65. In 1773, the city had a population of seventy thousand and, together with (New Spain) Mexico and Lima (Peru) was one of the most important cities in the New World.

Other department heads