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Rang

Yellow arch below the volcanoes

Antigua Guatemala

A colonial city of low houses in yellow, red and blue, known for a yellow arch and carpets of dyed sawdust.

The Santa Catalina Arch is one of the distinguishable landmarks in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala, located on 5th Avenue North. Built in the 17th century, it originally connected the Santa Catalina convent to a school, all
Photo: Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Antigua Guatemala is antigua yellow

Antigua was the capital of Spanish Central America until earthquakes in 1773 led the government to move away. What remained is a grid of cobbled streets, low houses and ruined churches under three volcanoes. Rules limit house fronts to a set of traditional colours: yellow ochre, red oxide, blue, white and a few others. The symbol of the city is the Santa Catalina Arch, a yellow bridge over a street, built in the 17th century so that nuns could cross unseen. The church of La Merced is yellow with white plaster lacework. In Holy Week, residents lay long carpets of dyed sawdust, flowers and fruit on the streets for processions to walk over.

Antigua yellow#F2B632Oxide red#A6392EStucco white#F5F3EAColonial blue#5F8FC2Volcano grey-green#5F6F5A

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Antigua Guatemala

OchreA natural earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Antigua Guatemala" on Wikipedia. If you know Antigua Guatemala and we have it wrong, tell us.

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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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