Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Another artist whose work adorns Guatemala City architecture is sculptor and engineer
Efraín Recinos, designer of the city's Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias. A large Re-
cinos mural composed of blue and green tiles was formerly housed inside La Aurora Inter-
national Airport but was recently demolished as part of the airport renovation project. The
large,whitesculpturesliningtheairport'sexteriorfacadewerealsocreatedbyRecinosand
have been restored and incorporated into the terminal's new design.
In March 2007, Guatemala City hosted a sculpture festival with the participation of 12
internationally acclaimed artists working during a two-week period to create unique art
pieces from blocks of marble. It's the first event of its kind held in Central America. The
sculptures are now part of the city's artistic legacy and can be found along the boulevard
connecting the international airport to Bulevar Liberación.
Architecture
In addition to the well-documented architectural legacy of the Mayans, Guatemala is also
known for its baroque architecture, found mostly in Antigua and Guatemala City cathed-
rals and government buildings. This style of architecture is a Spanish adaptation to local
conditions, marked by the prevalence of earthquakes, with squat, thick-walled structures
designed to weather numerous tremors throughout the years. Architecture in rural towns
and villages tends to be rather functional, with a recent trend toward grotesque multistory
concrete buildings replacing more traditional construction. Classic forms of rural architec-
ture consist (or consisted) largely of whitewashed adobe houses with red-tile roofs.
Guatemala City has its fair share of assembly-line high-rise condominiums, though it
also has some noteworthy modern architecture. If you have an interest in this topic, a re-
commended book is
Six Architects
(Ange Bourda, 2002), filled with wonderful color pho-
tographs chronicling the work of six Guatemala City architects who merged into a single
firm and are responsible for several of the city's nicest buildings.
In April 2007 the Parisian Grande Arche de la Défense played host to a fascinating
48-image exhibit by photographer Ange Bourda, which chronicled the rich history of
Guatemalan architecture from pre-Columbian times to the present.
Music
Guatemala's national instrument is the marimba, a huge wooden xylophone with probable
African origins. You'll often hear marimba in popular tourist regions such as Antigua,
where its cheerful notes can be heard emanating from garden courtyards housed in the
city's larger hotels. Pre-Columbian musical instruments consisted largely of drums,
wooden flutes, whistles, and bone rasps. An excellent place to check out the history and
originsofGuatemala'shighlandMayanmusicaltraditionsisCasaK'ojom,justoutsideAn-
tigua in Jocotenango.
