Square: Where we could appreciate the old governor's palace, now home to a number of old fashion and dark offices of a few public institutions, where bored public servants struggle to fill out their paperwork over sometimes beautiful wooden desks. For an antique dealer this would be a wonderful source of objects but public servants leave clear they are not interested in being bothered by curios strangers. From this building the whole empire of Guatemala was run, from Costa Rica (Panama was then part of Colombia and hence not considered part of Central America or Guatemala) all the way to Yucatan, including Belize. So Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras as well as the South of Mexico were all governed from Antigua. One can only imagine the difficulties for communicating in the times of the “Conquista”. Elisabeth insists that the internet changed dramatically the progress of Antigua.
Cathedral: It has lost most of its splendor nowadays after the cathedral was moved to Guatemala City. It maintain form the outside the fassade but once inside one finds an odd plant: the chapel goes to the right alongside the wall. In fact, a wall was build to close the main nave so it remains very small. Inside a few pieces left in the form of paintings, or images of low quality most of them leave sort of a bitter taste of the big temple it was. We move to the other side of the wall, leaving the chapel, and we find ourselves in an roofless cathedral. Now the plant looks right and it is easy to appreciate the magnificence of the building in former times. Catacombs, the former bishop's palace adjacent to it, add value to the current ruins; Ms Bells explains how they are trying to work with the city in raising funds to support the restoration of this building.
Club de Antigua: Former social club with tennis courts, and even a swimming pool that used to throw wonderful parties and now home to a well structured hotel in the style of “parador” or Portugues “pousada”, keeping all the traditional furniture and well maintained cloister.
Museum of jade: Very interesting this shop. We are debriefed on the quality of this green stone and how it relates to the importance of Mayan kings, who even used to fill their teeth with the highest quality of jade as a sign of inmortality. I have never been keen on jewelery but this time I allowed myself a gift for my sisters made of this semi-precious stone, since it was worth the quality and the design in this house.
Hotel Casa Santo Domingo: Today it is a luxury hotel and it is beautifully built. But most importantly it is home to very important ruins excavations and two important museums. Following you may see some pics of the Santo Domingo hotel where you may appreciate a few details of the ruins excavated and kept as part of the hotel facilities.
Reception of Hotel Santo Domingo
Former church excavated and used currently as a chapel for weddings (as shown today), with the altar covered with a white sheet to protect it from flash hotography and sunlight
Convent crypt access (right of the pic)
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