Antigua Ruins: Santiago Cathedral

Catedral de San José

Antigua means Ancient in Spanish. While not as old as the Mayan settlements, the city was founded in the mid 1500’s the city served as a capital of the kingdom of Guatemala. However in the 1700’s a series of earthquakes rocked the city until it was abandoned and the capital was moved to Guatemala City.

It is amazing to look up and see the sky, framed by the walls.

Slowly in the 20th century people started to return to the city, but rebuilding was limited. Today you can still see many of the ruins and reconstructions of the old monuments and churches. And the city still has its beautiful cobblestone streets, laid out in a grid system. Its for these reasons that the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It is amazing to visit the ruins on a lovely day.

One ruined church is the Catedral de San José. Original constructed in 1541, it suffered damage from several earthquakes before being demolished in 1669. Later it was rebuilt in 1680 but was seriously damaged in the 1773 earthquake.

You can see bits of detail here and there.

It has since been partially restored so that way Roman Catholic ceremonies can once again be performed. However, you can go to the side to enter the ruins behind the cathedral. You can see a map of the restoration vs the ruins here.

I wonder what this massive Cathedral would have looked like in the 1700’s?

These ruins are also referred to as the Santiago Cathedral ruins, because of the city’s original name.

The ruins of Antigua are why the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What is amazing, is that you cannot see these ruins from the street! Smaller buildings, shops, homes ring the outside of the area, so it would be easy to miss the ruins! In fact, I felt like I was one of a handful of people exploring the ruins that day!