Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In typical Spanish colonial fashion, the city was laid out around a central plaza with the
Catholic church and government buildings surrounding it. It is also known as the Plaza de
la Constitución. The central park encompasses a large area between 6a and 7a Avenidas
and 6a and 8a Calles. Alongside it are the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, Catedral Metro-
politana, and Portal del Comercio. The park is usually abuzz with shoe shiners and folks
enjoying a stroll through its grounds, now largely composed of concrete blocks with little
greenery after being remodeled in the mid-1980s to include an underground parking lot.
A large Guatemalan flag dominates the plaza near a small, sadly neglected monument to
the 1996 peace accords; it consists of a glass case enclosing a flame which has long since
burned out. South of the park, heading towards 9a Calle is
Portal del Comercio,
a com-
mercialarcaderecentlyrestoredaspartofRenaCENTRO'songoinggentrificationprojects.
Novena Calle itself (between 6a and 7a Avenidas) has also been restored as a pedestrian
thoroughfareknownasPasajeAycinena.PlansalsocallfortheexpansionofnearbyParque
Centenario.
Palacio Nacional de la Cultura
Boston'sFenwayParkhasitsGreenMonsterandsodoesGuatemalaCity.Theformerpres-
idential palace, built between 1939 and 1943 during the time of maniacal dictator Jorge
Ubico, is a large, green stone structure with elements of colonial and neoclassical architec-
ture. The 1996 peace accords were signed here and the building was subsequently conver-
ted into a museum (tel. 2230-1020, 9 A.M.-noon and 2-5 P.M. daily, $5). It is also some-
times used to host visiting dignitaries the likes of former President George W. Bush and
actor Mel Gibson. With most of Guatemala's presidents preferring to live in other parts of
the city, it has not housed a president during a term in office since the early 1990s.
ThepalaceisoneofGuatemalaCity'smostinterestingattractions,asitaffordsthevisitor
a glimpse into Guatemala's colonial and dictatorial legacy. After all, Guatemala City was
once the capital of the entire Central American isthmus and nowhere else in the region
were colonial institutions so embedded in the national fiber. Similarly, Guatemala's
cau-
dillos
(militarystrongmen)neededaresidencebefittingtheirstatusasrulersofaquasifeud-
al kingdom, to which end the palace served them quite well.
You can take a guided tour of the palace so as to better appreciate the intriguing archi-
tecture, including some Moorish courtyards, frescoed arches made of carved stone, and
artwork by several Guatemalan artists of the 1940s. As you climb the wood-and-brass
main stairway, you can admire a mural by Alredo Gálvez Suárez depicting a romanticized
take on Guatemalan history. Stained-glass windows by Julio Urruela Vásquez and Roberto
GonzálezGoyricanbefoundinthesecond-floorbanquethalladorningthepalace;theyde-
pictthevirtuesofgoodgovernment
.
Youmightalsobeabletoseethepresidentialbalcony,
which overlooks the plaza in classic dictatorial fashion.
