Grandeur Maya
The great Mayan city-states illustrate a keen sense of monumental architecture, decoration and urban planning that mirrored social hierarchies. The working classes lived far from urban centers, in huts made of perishable materials (wood, palm, thatch). Priests and dignitaries, on the other hand, live in the heart of the city. This is where the landmark buildings are located, resting on large stone platforms and organized around large plazas or agoras. For construction, the Maya used limestone that was easy to cut with their obsidian tools and a mortar that reproduced the properties of cement. For the sake of homogeneity, surfaces were covered with plaster before being painted with mineral and organic pigments, especially in red and blue. Sculpture, bas-relief, ceramics, painting - all forms of artistic expression were used to sublimate their epic, monumental style. The Maya took up the tradition of the great Olmec pyramids, adding height and volume, and above all working on the façades which, in addition to being painted, were carved and decorated with friezes, frescoes, stucco masks or stone panels and, above all, impressive glyphs. Atop these pyramids is the temple. The pyramid represents the sacred mountain, and the temple, the cavern in which to enter. The threshold of the temple is often materialized by the mouth of a zoomorphic creature, while its summit is decorated with a stylized ridge crest. Inside the buildings, ceilings are heavy, walls thick and spaces cramped. However, an astonishing technique can be seen in the corbelling of two opposing walls, which eventually come together to form the famous "Mayan false vault". The Maya built and rebuilt their buildings on the same sites, creating a kind of nested pyramid, in an astonishing contraction of space and time. Alongside pyramid-temples are palaces built around patios linked by passageways and corridors; altar-steles; i-shaped ball games with sloping walls; and observatories. The latter illustrate the importance given to astronomy. Each building is oriented according to the direction of the stars, so as to be illuminated by the sun at the time of the solstices and equinoxes. Added to this was an outstanding engineering science. Mayan city-states were linked by sakbe, straight, slightly elevated limestone roads. In some cities, the Maya also built astonishing systems of dams and reservoirs (often ravines whose walls they had coated with a layer of waterproofing latex). They also developed the first example of water filtration, using zeolite, a porous volcanic mineral capable of trapping contaminants. This water architecture is particularly evident at Tikal. the "City of Echoes" is made up of thousands of buildings, the most impressive of which are the great Temple of the Jaguar and the Temple of the Masks, both over 40 m high. Guatemala also boasts many other exceptional sites: Aguateca, with its unique example of a Mayan bridge; Pedras Negras, home to the world's only known Mayan baths; Quirigua, with its stelae of unrivalled splendour, carved not from limestone but from the softer sandstone, allowing for extreme refinement; El Mirador, with its astonishing ceramic complex; and the lost city of Iximché, with its impressive sanctuaries and polychrome sculptures. A short trip to Honduras will allow you to discover the incredible Parque Arqueológico Copán, with its staircases decorated with thousands of glyphs, its stelae that are the object of a veritable cult (each stela bears a name and has its own personality), and its zoomorphic altars. And these are just a few examples of this legendary civilization, which is far from having revealed all its secrets!
Colonial heritage
In terms of architecture, colonization took on different faces. Firstly, defensive, as shown by the Castillo de San Felipe with its imposing stone towers and its silhouette that reveals all the transformations linked to the evolution of artillery: bastioned structures à la Vauban, batteries, casemates... Secondly, religious. The Dominican and Franciscan orders imagined evangelization routes populated by churches, chapels and oratories, in a style designed to both edify and educate the Indians. The Dominicans also set up a system of confraternities, or confradias, which brought together dispersed communities around the church, creating a village system where Christian and Mayan rites blended in an astonishing syncretism. Chichicastenango is a perfect example, with its Plaza Mayor linking vernacular architecture and churches, including theIglesia de Santo Tomás, built on an ancient Mayan sanctuary. The last face of colonization is urban, as evidenced by Flores, famous for its narrow cobbled streets, adobe houses with red-tiled roofs and, above all, the double dome of its cathedral. But the undisputed masterpiece of colonial architecture is, of course, the city of Antigua. The Spanish Crown wished to make it an example of its power, which explains the urban planning directly inspired by the checkerboard layout so dear to the Renaissance. The city's first style was directly inspired by the Plateresque Renaissance, and employed a wealth of superb stylized details in plaster and stucco, combining interlacing and volutes. But the style that most marked the city is the "Antiguan Baroque". While this style takes on the characteristics of European Baroque, particularly that which has been dubbed Churrigueresque for its debauchery of stucco, engravings, gilding, twisted columns, elaborate ironwork and domes, it also adapts to the wrath of the earth that constantly threatens the city. Thick walls of mortar-bonded rubble, church towers and ever-lower buildings, facades decorated with smooth vertical bangs to compensate for massiveness with a feeling of slenderness, everything was designed to resist earthquakes... which didn't prevent the city from being devastated by the one in 1773. But Antigua has always risen from the ashes and retained its characteristic panache. See the elegant houses with their colorful facades, organized around patios with fountains, and admired from every street corner for their superb windows of varied geometric shapes and "grillages" of finely carved wooden colonnettes; see the shopping arcades or portals of its Plaza Mayor, with their wooden frameworks creating a latticework that is complemented by beautiful azulejos or glazed tiles; see the details in stone, plaster, brick, adobe or terra-cotta that adorn portals, vaults, columns and capitals everywhere. Among Antigua's most beautiful buildings, don't miss : theIglesia y convento de La Merced and the Santuario de San Francisco el Grande, with their facades filled with twisted columns and dozens of niches; the Palacio de Los Capitanes, with its large double arch punctuating its facade and its many patios; theArco de Santa Catalina, dominating the Calle de Arco ("street of arches") with its yellow silhouette topped by a lantern; the Convento Las Capuchinas with its astonishing round building sculpted with niches housing the 19 nuns' cells; or the beautiful Casa Popenoe with its emblazoned wooden door adorned with wrought-iron studs, its beautiful porch covering a small paved alley leading to the main patio, and its superb ornamentation of plinths, columns and lintels combining wood and stonework.
19th-early 20th century
Neo styles are particularly fashionable among the newly enriched Ladinos ("Hispanicized" mestizos), who build residences inspired by Antiquity and Classicism. Such is the case in Quezaltenango, where you can discover the neo-Hellenic Temple of Minerva and the neo-Gothic Church of St. Nicholas. The city also boasts some interesting examples of metal architecture, such as the beautiful Pasaje Enriquez, whose glass roof, supported by an elegant metal structure, is directly inspired by Parisian shopping arcades. The development of the railroads was accompanied by an eclectic Victorian-inspired architecture found in stations, offices and hotels. In Guatemala City, the great representatives of this period are the neo-Baroque Catedral de San José, with its large arches and colorful altars; the neo-classical El Portal de Comercio; and the neo-Baroque Iglesia de La Merced, with its stylized arches and abundant gilding. At this time, the Germans were present in Guatemala in large numbers, and it was they who imported Art Deco, particularly to the capital. Fine examples can be seen around Avenida Sexta. The Immeuble La Perla with its trapezoidal columns and stylized lettering; the Cinéma Lux with its curves and straight lines and mosaic decorations; the Imprimerie Hispania with its blue façade, swirling decorations and vertical and horizontal lettering; or the buildings with rounded balconies reminiscent of those on ocean liners... all are fine examples of this sober, geometric style. The 1930s also saw the construction of two of the capital's unclassifiable buildings: the National Palace, in a grand style borrowing from the colonial tradition; and the Torre del Reformador, whose 71.85 m metal structure is reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower. Between historicism and modernity, Guatemala is still searching..
Contemporary Guatemala
It was in the 50s and 60s that Guatemala City fully embraced modernity, combining functionalism with tradition. The new building of the National Library of Guatemala, with its sober lines and geometric volumes, is a fine example. The highlight of the building is the fresco sculpted by Efrain Recino, who reinvents the links between sculpture and architecture, drawing his inspiration from Mayan geometric motifs. He is also responsible for the Centro Cultural Miguel Angel Asturias, a perfect example of expressionist modernism, with its concrete shapes and volumes evoking dreamlike creatures as much as the peaks of the surrounding volcanoes. As for Jorge Montes, he designed the modernist building of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala, recognizable by its white concrete volumes on stilts and its triangular motifs; and the Banco de Guatemala, in the heart of the Civic Center, whose sculpted motifs on the façade are reminiscent of Indian pictorial art. In 1976, a terrible earthquake ravaged the country, triggering a massive rural exodus and urban growth that was difficult to stem. At the same time, the Indian population was subjected to terrible repression and forced to work in "model villages", while land was confiscated to build freeways and hotel complexes. In some areas, such as the banks of the Rio Dulce, with its marinas and billionaires' villas, this over-building continues unabated. Another folie de grandeur is Paseo Cayala, on the outskirts of Guatemala City. This gated community, accessed via a monumental archway, attempts to recreate the illusion of a historic center, using neoclassical and neo-colonial styles... but only succeeds in underlining the profoundly unequal nature of Guatemalan society. Fortunately, many contemporary designers are opting for architecture that is more respectful of the country's cultural and natural heritage. After the devastating eruption of the Volcan de Fuego in 2018, the Plan B Guatemala project was set up, and it is within this framework that the DEOC Arquitectos agency has imagined new shelters that are easy to build and maintain, and whose cinder blocks are arranged to create a protective lattice, while ensuring aeration and ventilation. In Santa Catarina Palopo, a major project involves the painting of almost 800 houses, in celebration of the Mayan Kaqchicel culture, whose geometric motifs are used in the huipil, a traditional garment. Anxious to put an end to the insalubrity and precariousness that reign in the shantytowns of the ravines surrounding Guatemala City, the architects of the Barranco Invertido ("inverted ravine") collective want to rehabilitate them as "ecological belts", by imagining bridges, staircases and vertical public transport to link these forgotten depths to the city center, while creating ecological parks and floating houses to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants. At the same time, many contemporary designers are attempting to combine a strong architectural gesture with respect for tradition. This can be seen in the elegant villas designed by Paz Arquitectura, whose wood, glass and steel structures adapt perfectly to different topographies; or in the libraries designed by Solis Colomer (Koica Library and Villa de los Niños Library), which combine simple volumes, planted spaces and geometric patterns in glass or glazed earthenware.
Vernacular architecture
While concrete and sheet metal are present just about everywhere, natural materials continue to hold their own! The Garifunas use palm for the framework, palm leaves for the roof, wild cane to create the latticework filled with a clay mixture, and climbing plants to bind it all together. The Maya, on the other hand, use sapoilla for beams and posts, mahogany and cedar for doors, windows and frames, and a mixture of guano and corozo ("vegetable ivory" from the palm tree) for roof thatching. In rural areas, as in mountainous regions, the inhabitants also prefer natural constructions, with adobe on the one hand, made from blocks of raw earth dried in the sun; and bajareque on the other, made from a vegetal structure composed of wood or bamboo forming a sort of half-timbering filled with earth and straw. Numerous earthquakes have proven that these structures are highly resistant, the former due to their mass, the latter due to their flexibility. This is why so many architects today are interested in this vernacular architecture, drawing inspiration from it to develop the architectural innovations of tomorrow.
