Protecting Our World Heritage – Centro Regional De Patrimonio (CERPA)

Protecting our wold Heritage CERPA

Meet Ana Lucía González Muñoz and Yoldez Halleb and how their amazing story of friendship turned into a heritage project, here in Guatemala: CERPA They met in Baku, Azerbaijan, where they were representing their countries, Guatemala and Tunisia, at the World Heritage Young Professionals Forum,during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO. There, they connected on several […]

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Restoration and Conservation in La Antigua Guatemala

Restoration and Conservation in La Antigua Guatemala

Restoration Restoration is the process of repairing or renovating a building, work of art, vehicle, etc., so as to restore it to its original condition. La Antigua Guatemala is steeped in architectural beauty despite earthquakes, fires, carelessness, damage by riots, abuses, etc. As well, beginning in the 14th century through the 20th century, architectural style and design was ever changing. […]

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Workshop Sculpting a Religious Image Colonial Style

Workshop Sculpting a Religious Image Colonial Style

Article by Hadazul Cruz—artist and student at CREA, outlining the Talla en Madera (wood carving) workshop, and the following Encarnado (polychrome) workshop. When the Spaniards arrived in Guatemala in 1524 they brought religion, arts, and culture with them. Since they didn’t speak native languages a simple way to evangelize the local population was through art. Thus, talented sculptors, painters, and […]

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The Cathedral Restoration in La Antigua

Antigua Guatemala cathedral

The works include three phases: restoration of the side and back facades; new exterior lighting and fumigating/waterproofing the roofs; and new sidewalks. A fabulous restoration project is currently underway on the centuries-old cathedral in Antigua! We are so excited, as this part of the 1680 building has not been restored possibly since the 1940s-50s. The “Patronato de Catedral de La […]

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Mission Accomplished! Restoration of the Paintings at Catedral de San José

Close-up of St. John painting showing the serpent emerging from the chalice

Close to 10 years ago, while admiring some Christmas decorations at San José Catedral in Antigua, I was astonished at the poor state of preservation of the colonial paintings. All of the original colonial art had been moved to the new capital in 1773, except for the 1680 paintings of the apostles by Mexican artist Juan de Correa (1646-1716). Restored […]

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Backstory on the restoration of the Palace of the Captains General in La Antigua

The palace was demolished by Captain General Martín de Mayorga after 1773. In fact, Mayorga got a royal decree to demolish the entire city after the earthquakes of 1773 but no one paid much attention to it. He did, however, demolish a great part of the palace, trying to move the large stone columns. The palace was rebuilt in the 1890s.

Very few of the buildings in Antigua have original plans. This 1763 plan (first floor) was found at the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain. The description is fascinating but may have actually been a proposal for the approval of the building permit by Luis Diez de Navarro, a Spanish engineer who was in charge of the new structure which was completed in 1764.

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