Churches of Nicaragua

Jimbojack · September 4, 2007

After posting a couple of series from Bolivia, I decided to go through some of my Nicaragua photos. Nicaragua is a very catholic country, and has many very interesting churches. Here are some of them:

Old cathedral in Managua, it was destroyed by the 1972 earthquake and was never rebuilt despite promises by the government.

Notice the bullet holes:

Cathedral de Granada, Granada's main church. Originally built in 1583, it has been destroyed many times since. This version was built in 1915.

Convent & Museum San Francisco in Granada. Originally constructed in 1585, it was burned to the ground by pirates and later by William Walker. It was rebuilt in 1868 and restored in 1989.

La Capilla Maria Auxilladora, Granada.

Iglesia de Guadalupe, Granada. Originally build as a fort near lake Nicaragua in 1626. The waterline of the lake has since retreated by about 600 meters.

Iglesia de la Merced, Granada. Originally built in 1529, it was destroyed by pirates in 1655 and rebuilt between 1781 and 1783. It was damaged again in 1854 by William Walker, and restored in 1862.

Iglesia de La Merced, Leon. Originally built in 1615, this version of the church was built in the early 1700's. The church is the home of Leon's patron saint, La Virgen de La Merced. The image was originally from Barcelona, it was brought to the original church in old Leon in 1528. After Volcano Momotombo erupted, old Leon was abandoned and the image was brought here.

Formerly knows as the Basilica de la Asuncion, this is Leon's and Central America's largest cathedral. The cathedral was supposed to be built in Peru, but the architect Diego Jose de Porres Esquivel switched the plans and the cathedral was built in Leon. This is the fourth version of the cathedral, the original 1610 construction was replaced 14 years later by a wood and adobe structure that the pirate William Dampier burned to the ground in 1685. It was rebuilt using adobe, and finally replaced in 1747 by the cathedral that you see now. It was built over a period of more then 100 years using mostly indigenous labor from Subtiava and Posoltega.

Tomb of Leonese (Nicaraguan) poet Ruben Dario. He is guarded by a sorrowful lion, an inscription on the tomb reads: "Nicaragua is created of vigor and glory, Nicaragua is made for freedom"

Nueva Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua's newest church. The 63 domes on top represent the 63 Catholic churches in Nicaragua and provide structural support during earthquakes (great feature, since the cathedral sits on top of a fault line). It cost an unbelievable $45 million (I can't help but think half or more of that money was stolen by officials involved in the project). It is probably one of the ugliest churches I've ever seen, using way too much concrete in its construction.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures, in the next few days I'll post a series from the cemetary of Granada.

More photos from this series can be see on my website

EphTwoEight · February 17, 2008

Wow! Just saw your post, very well done! Nicaragua is a must visit place!

Didn't see the bones that are under the glass in one of their churches.

Jimbojack · February 17, 2008

EphTwoEight wrote:

Wow! Just saw your post, very well done! Nicaragua is a must visit place!

Didn't see the bones that are under the glass in one of their churches.

Heh, I forgot this thread existed, it's been a while since I posted it. The remains I think you are referring to are located in the Convento y Museo San Francisco in Granada. From what I remember, they were found on the grounds of where the church was built and they decided to not move them. I have a photo of them but it's horrible since there was almost no light.

Here is a substitution remains shot of a 6,000 year old skull found at the Huellas de Acahualinca, Managua

I agree, Nicaragua is definately a must visit country. One of my favorites in Central America

BTW, here is a link to more photos of the churches: http://jimbojack.com/Countries/Nicaragua/Nicaragua_Churches.htm