Here you will discover why Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 1979, is known as “The Monumental City of the Americas”. Beginning as the colonial capital of Guatemala, Antigua, struck by the blows of history, was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. Its history is also an example of what the will of a people is capable of. Built on a checkerboard plan inspired by the principles of the Italian Renaissance, the city has become enriched with superb monuments in less than three centuries. In Antigua you will discover the delights of a pleasant and picturesque town, with its paved streets, tiled roofs and colonial monuments, some of which are delicately covered by a sweet vegetation. As though nature today feels a duty to render homage to passed glories. Antigua, undecided between modernity and the past, has kept only the essential of the mysterious Mayan civilisation from which it originated. An incontournable crossroads for travellers of Central America, the town will surprise you with its artisans and beautiful indigenous markets.