La Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Pag. 2 Many people say that La Antigua is the most beautiful city in Central America.

Others call it the loveliest Spanish Colonial town in the world. Over 200 years ago, when Guatemala extended from the lower part of Mexico to Costa Rica, Antigua was its capital. Antigua was one of the three major centers of power in the New World along with Lima, Peru and Mexico City, Mexico. On July 29, 1773, time stopped in La Antigua. On that day a devastating earthquake destroyed the city.

Its cobblestone streets stand today as they were in 1773 as a monument to man's dogged determination. This city, miraculously restored, contains some of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial art and architecture in the Americas: cathedrals, convents, plazas and residences from the 16th and 17th centuries. Antigua, included in UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1979, was one of the first planned colonial cities in the New World.

Guatemala is one of the most interesting countries in the world. It is the size of Tennessee, with an array of ecological zones, five mountain ranges, and 33 volcanoes.