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Our tour begins a hundred meters from the Plaza Mayor de la Constitución, at the Mercado Central in the Plaza del Sagrario. Located behind the cathedral, the three-story market is built over what used to be the city cemetery. Here, there are many stalls selling fruit, vegetables, flowers, weavings and snacks. Not far away, on the corner of Avenida 9 and Calle 10, is the Museo de Historia, which houses an exhibition depicting the city's history and the people who have played a part in it. It has a wealth of historical photographs, as well as furniture and valuable political documents. This is the place to go if you want to find out about the city's past since Independence in 1821. The exhibitions also cover the economy, society, and the arts. A few blocks from the History Museum is La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, on the corner of Avenida 11 and Calle 5. It houses a fine collection of colonial paintings, as well as gilded altarpieces which were brought from Antigua to the new place of worship.
Walking northwards from the center along Avenida 6, at the corner of Calle 19 in Zone 4 you will come to the Centro Cultural Miguel Angel Asturias, home to the opera, a chamber theater and an open-air theater built around three squares. Work began on the theatre in 1961 and finished in 1978. Shaped like a Mayan pyramid, it stands out from the rest of the Civic Centre on Buena Vista Hill and is considered one of the greatest in the world. You can visit at any time of day.Two kilometers northeast of the center is the Cerro del Carmen, where the first church in the valley was built, dedicated to La Virgen del Carmen. This provides a little oasis of green in the midst of the growing city. From its patio you have a good view of the city center.
La Plaza Mayor
The Plaza Mayor is a good starting point for a walk through the city. To the east is the Neo-Classical Metropolitan Cathedral, where you can contemplate a collection of religious paintings by masters such as Zurbarán, from the Spanish dark period, and pictures from Guatemala's colonial days such as “Saint Sebastian” and the “Virgen del Socorro”, brought by the Spanish conquistadors. To the north of the Plaza is the Portal del Comercio (Gate of Commerce), also in Neo-Classical style, which is home to a variety of businesses and street vendors' stalls. Here you can buy arts and crafts from all over the country. If you want an embroidered huipil, pottery, or craftsmanship in leather, wood, silver, or tin, this is the place to go. To the west of the Plaza is the Parque Centenario (Centenary Park), where shoe-shiners traditionally gather around the benches at the entrance to Avenida 6, to gossip about politics, economics and the news of the day.
You do not have to leave the capital to explore the treasures of Mayan culture. Sitio Arqueológico Kaminal Juyú gives you the opportunity to see from close up how archaeological excavations are carried out. Amongst the ten mounds of earth in the middle of a field, you will find two sets of excavations by teams from the University of Pennsylvania. Named the "Hill of the Dead" by Antonio Villacorta in 1940 due to the large number of burial remains which have been found in it, Laminal Juyú is the site of a Mayan city that dates back to the Pre-Classical period. A visit to the best museum of Pre-Hispanic art in Central America, the Museo Popol Vuh will prepare you for the Route of the Mayas. Forty centuries of Mayan life are summed up in the nine galleries: an introductory room, a map of Central America, a sculpture gallery, a gallery of jade objects, a room dedicated to contemporary ethnology, and rooms containing artifacts from the three major periods of the Mayan civilization, the Pre-Classical, Classical and the Post-Classical. Finally, the “Patio of Stars” is especially impressive. As well, the Pre-Hispanic Art department of the Popol Vuh has a collection of funeral urns from El Quiché and a collection of tubular incense burners rescued from the bottom of Lake Atitlán.
Mapa en Relieve
Five minutes' walk to the north of the Plaza Mayor de la Constitución, on the site of the old North Hippodrome, is the Mapa en Relieve (relief map). Made between 1904 and 1905 by the engineer Francisco Vela Irrisario, this is a unique and amazingly detailed three-dimensional map of the country. From the visitors' observation box you can see the hydraulic system used to simulate the flow of the country's rivers and lakes. The 108,889-square kilometers that make up the Republic of Guatemala are accurately condensed into only 1,800 square meters. To see all the rivers, volcanoes, mountains, valleys, and the coast laid out before you like this is really a stunning sight. To the south along Avenida Reforma you come to the Jardín Botánico, which is kept by the Conservation Study Center of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala. A huge variety of plants and trees are to be found in this small space. Avenida La Reforma, with its broad, tree-lined meridian, is one of the main arteries of the southern part of the city, providing access to new shopping areas such as La Pradera, Gran Centro Los Próceres, and the Zona Viva, where you will find the most exclusive clothes shops and the best restaurants, surrounded by hotels.
The Archaeology Museum houses a valuable display of Mayan relics, including a large collection of Pre-Columbian jade. There are displays on the country's indigenous tribes, showing their different styles of weaving. Opposite, and in a similar architectural style, stands the Museo de Arte Moderno, a gallery which houses a good selection of the best in contemporary Guatemalan art, particularly painting and sculpture. In an innovative building next door is the Museo de Historia Natural, with exhibitions on flora, fauna, mineralogy, and paleontology, including a collection of dissected animal specimens from various regions of Guatemala. There is also an ecological library for children, the only one of its kind in the country.
Guided Tour
Classic Journeys (+1 800 200 3887/ http://www.Classicjourneys.com) Gray Line (+502 2383 8600/http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/destinations/latinamerica/guatemala.go) Turansa (+502 2433 6080/ http://www.turansa.com)
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