Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Architecture
The success of the Spanish conquest let the motherland finally break free of French archi-
tectural forms, such as Gothic architecture, and experiment with homegrown styles both at
home and in the Americas.
Some of the earliest New World churches are a Moorish-Spanish hybrid called
mujédar,
with squat silhouettes, wooden roofs and geometric configurations. Influenced by Islam as
well as the Italian Renaissance are
plateresque
(elaborate silver filigree) on altars such as in
El Viejo.
Famous Nicaraguan musician Carlos Mejía Godoy, who wrote theme songs for the
Sandinista revolution, went on to sue the FSLN for improper use of those very songs.
Baroque hit big in the mid-1600s, and was the most popular choice for major buildings
over the next century. Primitivist baroque, featuring graceful but unadorned adobe and
wood columns, and common in smaller colonial towns, was followed by full Spanish
baroque style, with extravagant design (stone grapevines wending up massive pillars, for
example), sometimes called
churriguera
.
The most famous examples of Spanish colonial architecture can be found in Granada and
León, but colonial gems are scattered throughout the country.
