by Mike Sabine

Gun fire echoed off its walls, dictators strode its halls, the legislature was held hostage here at gun point, its ceiling crashed in as a devastating earthquake made the ground heave. Nicaragua’s national museum not only houses the history and culture of the country, some of it was made there.

 In sweeping murals, art collections, artifacts and displays, it holds the essence of the country’s past. Divided into sections, the museum’s rooms include pre-Columbian pottery and stone statues, natural history, national symbols and a contemporary art collection from Latin America.

The building, located near Managua’s lake front, is a two story colonial style with high ceilings, grand staircases, wide hallways and an open air interior courtyard with towering Royal palms, gifts from Cuban dictator Bautista to Nicaraguan dictator Somoza in 1952. Built in 1931, it served as presidential offices and meeting hall for the legislature until damaged in the 1972 earthquake, El Desastre. The building was finally restored and made into a museum in 1997.