Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Museo de Leyendas y Tradiciones
(4a Calle SO, frente Ruinas San Sebastián; admission US$2; 8am-noon & 1-5pm)
León's most
entertaining and eclectic museum, the Museum of Myths & Traditions is now housed in
La XXI (the 21st Garrison). What makes this museum unmissable is the striking contrast
of its main subjects: a quirky collection of life-sized papier-mâché figures from Leónese
history and legend, handmade by founder Señora Toruña (also represented in glorious
papier-mâché), and murals graphically depicting methods the Guardia Nacional used to
torture prisoners.
You're led from room to room, each dedicated to a different aspect of Leónese folklore,
from La Gigantona - the giant woman who represents an original colonist, still ridiculed
by a popular ballet
folklórico
- to La Carreta Nagua (Chariot of Death), which picks up
the souls of those foolish enough to cross intersections catercorner.
And between each rundown of local legends, your Spanish-speaking guide will cheer-
fully shift gears to describe the gory human-rights abuses - stretching on racks, beatings,
water tortures etc - that took place here regularly until June 13, 1979, when Commander
Dora María Téllez successfully breached Somoza's defenses and secured La XXI for the
Sandinistas, releasing all prisoners. Signage is in English and Spanish.
MUSEUM
Museo-Archivo Rubén Darío
OFFLINE MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
(cnr Calles Central & 4a Av; admission US$1; 8am-noon & 2-5pm Tue-Sat, 8am-noon Sun)
Of all
the museums and monuments dedicated to the poet that are scattered across his doting
homeland, Museo-Archivo Rubén Darío seems like the one where you'd be most likely to
run into his ghost.
Exhibits are displayed throughout the house where he lived until he was a teenager, ran-
ging from everyday items - more a window into well-to-do Nicaragua in the late 1800s -
to handwritten manuscripts of Darío's famous works.
Darío's final resting place is the León cathedral.
His bible, the bed where he died 'an agonizing death' and the fancy duds he wore as the
ambassador to Spain are just highlights among the historic bric-a-brac.
Museo Entomológico
OFFLINE MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
