Cultural Walking Tour Antigua Guatemala

Description: Walk around in this wonderful city and learn about the Guatemalan history during colonial times. We start the tour with the Cathedral that was built in 1680 and with the fountain on the main square, where we explain the history of the city by means of surrounding examples of colonial architecture. Next we visit the San Francisco el Grande Church which was built in 1702. It is one of the best-preserved churches in Antigua and the resting place of the first saint in Central-America, Hermano Pedro. We then walk to the beautiful baroque church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, one of Antigua’s most beautiful colonial style churches. This building was finished in 1767. On the left side of the church, there is a convent which is open to the public for a small fee. The tour ends in a jade factory, where you can learn about the different types of jade, the history of jade in Guatemala and understand how long it takes to make just one piece. To the ancient Maya, jade represented things like maize (corn), the wind, breath and the soul. They made jade into belts, nose decorations, mosaic masks, tooth inserts, beads and ear spools (a kind of earring that looks like a spool). They also worked jade into “celts” – a kind of axe-head. As for decoration, designs representing flowers were popular for jade jewelry. The jade is cut and polished in the factory by local Guatemalan workers who follow the carving traditions of their ancestors.