ANTIGUA GUATEMALA

Antigua Guatemala, (generally known as Antigua)  is a town in the mountains of Guatemala close to the volcanos of Agua, Fuego and Acatenango.

Antigua is best known for its colonial Spanish architecture with baroque facades typical of the New World.  It has a large number of very impressive ruins of ancient churches built in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds.  It was declared a Patrimoney of Humanity by UNESCO in l979.

HISTORY

It was the third capital of the territory of Guatemala which then was composed of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and a small part of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.  Its founding was dated from 1543 and initial constructions were begun by Ing. Juan Bautista Antonelli in the Valley of Panchoy. which is where it was transferred to after the destruction by flooding at an initial site in the Valley of Almolonga on the approaches to the Agua volcano.  The very first site had been the valley of Iximchè in 1527.  During its development and days of glory it was known as one of the three most beautiful cities of the New World.

The town, whose full and original name is “Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala”, competed with cities like Mexico City, Puebla, Lima and Potosi.  The special circumstances of the earthquake of July 29, 1773, when Antigua was in full development, cut its growth and affected its natural process of development.  The other large cities suffered from the effects of the neoclassic growth of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  This did not affect Antigua which was detained in time and recalling the glory days of the establishment of the Captain Generalcy of the Kingdom of Guatemala.  In the early period Antigua had a great influence on the esthetics and development of its surrounding areas such as Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua and on Chiapas to the north.  The city, from that period, was known as the City of Perpetual Roses and its inhabitants were known as Green Bellies (Panzas Verdes). 

An important date in the Religious History of Guatemala  is August 5, 1717, the day the Image of Jesus of Nazareth of La Merced was consecrated in Antigua.  (The statue today is kept in the Church of Our Lady of La Merced in Zone 1 in Guatemala City.

Because of the two destructive earthquakes, known as the Earthquakes of Santa MarthaThe President of the Royal Audience of Guatemala, Martin de Mayorga, decided that it was necessary to relocated the city to a safer location.  The new location was called the New Guatemala of the Asenciòn, which is today the City of Guatemala, the current capital, at forty kilometres from its original site.  In 1776, the badly battered city of Antigua was abandoned, but not everyone left.

TODAY

Today Antigua is a Patrimony of Culture as declared by the UNESCO in l979.

Today Antigua is famous for its religious pagents culminating annually during the Holy Week processions during the days prior  to Easter Sunday. 

There are also many language schools in Antigua, It is recognized as one of the best places for students from Europe or North America to come to when they wish to learn Spanish.

Antigua is the capital of the Department of Sacatepequez.  In Antigua are the remains of the third university in the Americas, the University of San Carlos de Borromeo founded  the 31st of January, 1676 by the Royal Decree of King Charles II.  The buildings being used offer musical events and concerts, and the building serves as a museum.  University studies exist in Guatemala since the middle of the 16th Century when Bishop Francisco Marroquìn founded the University of Santo Tomàs in l562. The university was oriented toward students of a lower economic possibility and the first faculties were philosophy, law and theology.

The University of San Carlos was given a Papal Bull by Pope Innocent XI on the 18th of June, 1687.

In Antigua one finds such colonial treasurers as the Palace of the Captains General, the University of San Carlos of Borromeo, the Museum of Art of Santiago de los Caballeros, the Museum of Printing of Antigua, parks, plazas, artisan markets, commercial shops and stores, restaurants, bars and cafes with a magic touch that enchants all visitors. 

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