7/11 -- Explore Antigua

Today we explored a number of old buildings and ruins in Antigua. As Guatemala's capitol for many years, there were a number of important churches and convents (mostly for men, not women). Unfortunately, seismic activity in the area ruined many of them and others fell into  neglect when the capitol was abandoned.

Our first stop was St. Francis Church, where we were not allowed to take photos inside. An interesting aspect of several of the churches here is that the bell towers are no taller that the entry, which is unusual in Catholic church construction. This is due to a purely practical consideration: The taller bell towers were less stable and were more likely to crash down in earthquakes, sometimes with devastating effects to the faithful. Shorter towers are safer.

This church is most famous for housing a saint, originally an unordained brother who ministered to the poor and unfortunate. He was known for his work with lepers and walked the streets at night ringing a bell so that people in need could find him. He was Hermano Pedro and lived nearly 400 years ago.  His body has been moved several times. His 5th and 6th (final) resting places are in this church. His fifth tomb was set into a wall with a simple wooden door. This sideways door has a number of areas where the paint has worn off, apparently the result of many petitioners knocking on his door to alert him to their request. When he was canonized, the church was ashamed of his humble lodgings and moved him to a 'presidential suite' a couple of side naves over. Luis thought he would have preferred to stay  in the less ostentatious surroundings.

Entry to St. Francis Church in Antigua.

Even the shortened bell towers were susceptible to damage,
as you can see from the missing parts of the right one. 

On our way to our next stop, we passed a square with a fountain and basin for doing laundry, and interesting corner posts that served to protect the building from rambunctious carriage drivers.

In the horse and buggy days, too many people
cut the corners,damaging stucco, so these
concrete corner posts were put in place.

Wash basins at the square.

This used to be a church and chapel, and is now a hospital
dedicated to the  memory of Hernano Pedro.

Our next stop was the original Metropolitan church, where the impressive marble altar we saw in Guatemala City was originally located. This was destroyed in a earthquake in 1773 that led to the city's abandonment as a capitol. It was not really rehabilitated for living in until the early 1900s. Now all buildings have to conform to the original colonial style with a limited number of paint colors available. Even within these limits, the city is more colorful than most US cities.

In the photos, the nice looking red bricks are all reconstructions. In some areas, the original paint and designs were still there. A  lot of aspects of Christianity meshed nicely with Mayan beliefs, which made the Mayans more amenable to 'conversion' than some other indigenous peoples.

The column in ruins behind Jim has been rebuilt to the left,
although you cannot see it in this photo.

Chronology of the Metropolitan Cathedral

The column behind Jim has been reconstructed.

This niche is in front of the removed altar. The
hole you see in front is stairs to a crypt, which
the Mayans interpreted as a route to communicate
with the underworld.

Even today, people go down these stairs to pray.

The courtyard of the attached convent.

Original art work on a wall.

San Mercedes church had very elaborate designs on the front and interesting  'fake' detail inside.

The exterior of an 'Antiguan Baroque' church. If you look carefully
at the detail, there are many Mayan design elements incorporated
that the Catholics either didn't notice or care about.

This church was damaged too and these rebuilt
'mosaics' are actually made with paper. We
couldn't tell until we were told to look closer.

Elaborate statue of the Virgin Mary after the
cruxifixion. The sword sticking out of the neckline
of her dress represents her emotional pain (stabbed
through the heart) afterwards.

Santo Domingo Monastery was destroyed in the same earthquake that took down the Metropolitan Cathedral. It has since been partially transformed into a hotel and restaurant, while the original  nave has a permanent circus-tent type covering and is still used for worship and weddings. It also  houses a number of museums, including a very interesting one that juxtaposes ancient Mayan works of art next to modern glass works, created totally independently of Mayan influence, which show strikingly similar themes.

Part of the tent roof. The architect who designed it had been
hired to rebuild but suggested this adaptation instead.

Bells added that distract your attention from
a tent pole.

Jim at the front on the tented area, with seating behind him.

The Mayan and glass museum.

Examples (above and below) of artistic similarities

Another museum had this artifact, which would
have been impossibly heavy,

So the solution was to build it as a shell with
a cover over the back, which has been removed here.

After lunch, we went jade shopping -- Guatemalan jade is jadeite, and originally, all Chinese jade was nephrite until the discovery of jadeite in Burma in the 1800s. Jadeite is harder, but nephrite is more translucent. Both are difficult to work with and prized by their cultures. Jim ended up finding a lovely fan-shaped piece in lavender jade with streaks of green and pink.

Our dinner included a dance show and musicians. Mayan dance themes were adapted to please the Spaniards to avoid being killed for pagan beliefs. The four dancers we saw all wore Spanish military type costumes. It was a very active dance, which would work well for a weight loss program! After the main show, they invited several guests to  join them  and several of our trip companions got to dance too.

Playing the marimba is a group effort.

Tough to get a clear photo with my  phone of the active dancers!