Besides a Sunday afternoon and besides the Central Park, the City of the Eternal Roses is a place where you must travel little by little and saturate with culture, history and tradition.

The mornings are perfect to visit the different places that this city has to offer. Starting at the famous Central Park the closest to visit is the Museum of Colonial Art, which opens from Tuesdays thru Fridays from 9:00 to 16:00 hours, and on weekends from 9:00 thru 12:00 and from 14:00 thru 16:00 hours. The admission cost is Q2.00 for locals and Q25.00 for foreigners.

On Sundays the entrance is free. At this museum you will find a permanent exhibition of religious paintings and sculptures from the XVII and XVIII centuries. Close to the museum, about three or four blocks apart, are the ruins of Santa Clara and the Park La Unión, two places were you can buy handicrafts and be acquainted with the history of the time in which the convent was found. At one side of Santa Clara, following the Calle de los Pasos (the street of Los Pasos) are the ruins of San Francisco, now famous for keeping the rests of the Holy Hermano Pedro de San José de Betancur. In here, you can sightsee the ruins, and also visit the museum and the grave of the saint.

This is almost a mandatory route and interesting too, because from the top of the ruins you can appreciate the city, specially the church of Escuela de Cristo (School of Christ). On the other side of the city you will find the Convent of Capuchinas, which shelters the offices of the Custodian of the City of Antigua. Both the church and the convent suffered serious damages during the earthquakes of 1773. This was the last convent founded in the city of Santiago de Guatemala and it was the only religious center in which the young ladies entered without paying any money, because they were confined nuns, whose main rule was poverty. This building, besides being a convent, had also other uses, among them: its courtyards were used to dry coffee, and it also worked as a dyeing establishment. It is one of the best preserved buildings in La Antigua Guatemala, besides the fact of the earthquakes.

Close to the convent you can see the front wall of the Church of El Carmen, which cannot be visited. Walking two more blocks is the street of El Arco, closed on Sundays and holidays to offer cultural activities. In this area you will also find shops which sell handicrafts, jade and textiles. But along all these streets there are lots of things to see and do. Coffees, galleries, bookstores, museums like Casa Popenoe, close to San Francisco.

The jade shops and the Textile and Glass Museum are good options to enjoy your mornings, instead of just benefit from the traditional walk through the Central Park. The afternoons in La Antigua are other story, if the morning was fresh and nice, wait till you see what the land of the panza verdes (name to denominate the people from Antigua) have to offer throughout the rest of the day.

1566 King Felipe II grants the City of Santiago de Guatemala the honorific titles of Most Noble and Most Loyal City, signed in El Escorial on March 10.

1743 Its Sanctity Benedicto XVI issues the papal bull in which establishes as metropolitan the Santa Iglesia Catedral de Guatemala on December 16.

1799 The City is known as La Antigua Guatemala.

1944 The Legislative Assembly on March 30 declares the City of La Antigua Guatemala as National Monument.

1962 It is declared Emeritus of the Hispanic World, after Mexico and Lima the most important orb.

1965 The VIII General Assembly of the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History declares the city on the month of July, City Monument of America.

1979 The UNESCO declares the city, Patrimony of Humanity.