Ruínas de León Viejo
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How it came to be
León Viejo lies on the south-western shore of Lake Managua (Lake Xolotlán), south of the Momotombo volcano in Nicaragua. The conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba founded the town on 15 June 1524, beside a native population of about 15,000.
Hernández de Córdoba himself was beheaded in the town's main square in 1526 on the orders of the governor Pedrarias Dávila. The area was volcanically restless, and earthquakes struck in 1594 and 1610. The 1610 quake did not destroy the town, but the settlers voted to move it west to the site of present-day León, and the old town was slowly buried by ash and stone from Momotombo.
Excavation revealed a grid plan around a central main square, and 16 ruins have been partly restored over an area of roughly 800 by 500 metres. Because its 16th-century layout was never altered, the site was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2000. Hurricane Mitch damaged about 40 percent of it in 1998.
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