by Paul Parisi, originally published in Nica News 17 (October 1998)

Granada, on the west-central shore of Lake Nicaragua, was founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba. Throughout Granada's history, pirates appear to have had a particular penchant for raiding this city. They did so until there was nothing left to steal, and what they couldn't carry off, they burned.

After a century and a half of relative peace, a group of mercenaries from the United States under the command of William Walker burned what the Granadinos had managed to rebuild in that time. It is difficult to imagine any city having the energy to return to normal after so many repeated and purposeful acts of destruction.

Like the mythical bird known as the Phoenix, the city has risen from its ashes every time to continue in her role as the "Grand Sultaness". What one encounters today is a city that blends new and old in a fascinating way. There is the "007" Barber Shop. In front of the cathedral is a woman willing to shake out a few individual chiclets from a box to sell to those who don't want a whole box.

Another woman across the plaza sells deep fried pork rinds together with yucca and salad served on a tropical plant leaf. Then, in defiance of the history of destruction, some history is conserved in a modern museum situated in an ancient church and convent.

The Church and Convent of San Francisco, operated by the government's Institute of Culture, is the oldest church in Nicaragua. The tourist today, however, will find that all that remains from earlier times is part of the present bell tower, with its three rather recent bells. The church interior is undergoing a restoration designed to transport you back to the era of Granada's splendor, which was also the time of its most turbulent history.

Pre-Columbian statuary

Aided significantly by the Swedish Government's International Development Agency, known locally by its Spanish acronym ASDI, the grounds of the convent and church are rapidly becoming a major tourist attraction. This assistance materialized in 1990 after renewed interest by that country in the 100th anniversary of the publication of the travels and memoirs of Swedish naturalist Carl Bovalluis.

The museum has three copies of that book published in Stockholm in 1886. It is filled with marvelous drawings of the many mysterious statues which Bovalluis rediscovered on visits to the islands in Lake Nicaragua. Bovalluis came there about 30 years after 15 statues had been found by US diplomat Ephraim George Squier in 1849 on the island of Zapatera. Bovalluis also discovered several more, all carved from basalt, a volcanic rock.

The statues, now the Squier-Zapatera Collection, were moved to Granada during the 1920s and 1940s and were gathered together at their present location in 1970. Twenty-eight are on display, representing two similar but distinctive artistic styles. Those identified as Chontales, dating from 800-1200 AD, are more rigid, not carved in the round, the artist apparently being constrained by the rectangular block shape of the stone.

The contemporary Zapatera figures are more fully executed, more realistic in their treatment of both the human aspect and the animal "spirit guide." The spirit guide is a distinguishing feature of this statuary, reminiscent of the figurines of San Augustín in Colombia. The main difference here is that these alter egos are definitely animal, as opposed to the human and anthropomorphic motifs of San Augustín.

Though severely eroded due to years of exposure to the elements, several of these statues demonstrate attention to detail and a tenderness of the human face rarely noted in the Americas, apart from Mayan statuary.

Human forms emerging from the open jaws of crocodilian animals exhibit a Mesoamerican influence. Those with the spirit guide perched on the head or shoulders show the South American influence. These are truly interesting in the ways that the animal attaches itself to the human form.

Emerging from the jaws of an animal is a representation of a world view held by many Mesoamerican groups. Man, in their creation myth, emerges from a subterranean existence, only after having overcome obstacles or trials exacted of them by the gods.

These concepts are best shown at the Mayan center of Chichen Itza in Mexico where bas-reliefs of hero twins are depicted as returning from ritual games against the gods and again are depicted with human forms emerging from the jaws of the feathered serpent.

The animal adhering to the human head or shoulders -supported by the head of the human as some sort of head-dress-, merging with the human figure, or seemingly existing without difficulty above the human as if floating there, are all representations of spirit guides exhibited best by the much older statuary of San Augustín. It has been speculated that they either predate a pantheon of established gods or demonstrate the use of hallucinogenic substances, or both.

Regardless, the influences from both can be seen, and a walk through this part of the museum is a stroll past several major civilizations, with their mytho-religious concepts. Another quite interesting and dramatically different statue is to be found laying on the ground in an area currently under restoration.

This is an incised figure of a human that has been painstakingly carved on the face of a stone harder than basalt. Its limbs are quite realistic, extending to have the anatomically correct posture for fingers and toes. Stylistically, it could have come from the great Zapotec site of Monte Albán in southern Mexico. This figure has no head, only a straight line that may represent ritualistic decapitation.

Variety of displays

Maps on display show possible pre-Hispanic trade routes for such precious commodities as jade and obsidian. Ceramics in the collection also illustrate Mesoamerican stylistic forms, as does the diorama of the "voladores" or flying men.

This amazing sport or rite has been practiced in Vera Cruz, Mexico for thousands of years and still is today. The pole and launching platform represented in the museum differ only in that a statue, rather than a living person, is set atop the platform from which four individuals would hurl themselves outward to slowly spiral to the ground while attached to a rope unwinding from the pole.

The museum also has rooms devoted to more modern aspects of Nicaragua's history. One room contains colonial era figures of saints which come from household shrines throughout the country. They are displayed in glass cases with kneelers for the faithful so they may pray in front of them. The museum is currently cataloguing these, and this information will certainly enhance the understanding of visitors.

The 250 pieces are mostly wooden, polychrome painted forms of colonial popular art. While they represent no particular school, they are classified as baroque and could have been made in places as dispersed as Peru or Guatemala, both having been major production centers at that time.

Primitivist art gallery

The primitivist or naïve painting style of Nicaragua is represented with 66 works by 24 artists in a revolving display. The beginning of this style is generally attributed to Father Ernesto Cardenal of the contemplative order of Trappist Monks.

On the Solentiname Archipelago, Cardenal taught islanders how to paint using materials donated by renowned national painter Róger Pérez de la Rocha.

This style was consolidated by 1980, with both rural and urban primitives. Doña Celia Guillén of Boaco began her career embroidering primitivist art designs, then changed her medium, but not her style. She did not use an easel, and just laid the painting across her lap as she had with her needlework.

The museum has works by June Beer (one of the most famous painters from Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast), Salvadora Noguera, and Julio Castillo. Luz Marina Acosta, one of Nicaragua's most knowledgeable experts on primitivist painting was consulted in establishing this collection.

Clearly, the museum, church and convent are well on the way to being a must stop for tourists in Granada. Open daily from 9 to 6, it also houses an office of the Tourist Delegation of Granada. The ten córdoba entrance fee is well worth it, and you should plan to spend several hours there.