Parque Central

In typical Spanish colonial fashion, the city was laid out around a central plaza with the Catholic church and government buildings surrounding it. It is also known as the Plaza de la Constitución.

The central park encompasses a large area between 6a and 7a Avenidas and 6a and 8a Calles. Alongside it are the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura [1], Catedral Metropolitana [2], and Portal del Comercio.

The park is usually abuzz with shoe shiners and folks enjoying a stroll through its grounds, now largely composed of concrete blocks with little greenery after being remodeled in the mid-1980s to include an underground parking lot.

A large Guatemalan flag dominates the plaza near a small, sadly neglected monument to the 1996 peace accords; it consists of a glass case enclosing a flame which has long since burned out.

South of the park, heading towards 9a Calle is Portal del Comercio, a commercial arcade recently restored as art of RenaCENTRO's ongoing gentrification projects. Novena Calle itself (between 6a and 7a Avenidas) has also been restored as a pedestrian thoroughfare known as Pasaje Avicinena. Plans also call for the expanasion of nearby Parque Centenario [3].