Santa Ana (El Salvador)
Coordinates: 13 ° 59 ′ N , 89 ° 34 ′ W
Santa Ana is a city in El Salvador . It was named after Saint Anne . Santa Ana is considered the second most important city in the Central American country after San Salvador . It is located in the northwest of the country and has about 250,000 inhabitants and an area of approx. 2,023 km². The city is also the capital of the department and the urban district of the same name. It is also the Catholic bishopric of the diocese of Santa Ana .
history
The first settlement on the site of the current city of Santa Ana was founded by the Maya Pokomane peoples. They called the settlement "Cihuatehuacan" (place of the priestesses). On June 26, 1569, the Archbishop of Guatemala, Bernardino de Villalpando , founded a chapel in the village of that time and dedicated the church to St. Anne, mother of St. Mary. So the settlement was renamed after this saint and was called "Santa Ana la Grande" from then on.
In the 19th century the old chapel was partially destroyed by lightning. The rebuilding of the church began before the diocese of Santa Ana was founded. The new cathedral was inaugurated on February 11, 1913. This cathedral is built in the Gothic style, something that sets it apart from most of the colonial-style churches in El Salvador and even all of Latin America. In 1995 the cathedral was named a national monument.
The current mayor of the city is Francisco Polanco (FMLN) .
education
In addition to a large number of elementary and secondary schools, Santa Ana is also the seat of various state and private universities: the Universidad Católica de El Salvador, the Universidad Autónoma de Santa Ana and the Facultad Multidisciplinaria de Occidente of the Universidad de El Salvador.
Attractions
- Catedral de Santa Ana ( Cathedral )
- Alcadia Municipal ( Town Hall )
- Teatro de Santa Ana ( theater )
Daughters and sons of the city
- Francisco Flores Pérez (1959–2016), politician, President of El Salvador
- Evelyn García (* 1982), racing cyclist
- Pedro Geoffroy Rivas (1908–1979), journalist, poet, anthropologist and linguist
- Álvaro Menéndez Leal (1931–2000), poet, storyteller, playwright, essayist and journalist
- Alfredo Pacheco (1982-2015), football player
- Rafael Rodríguez Díaz (* 1943), poet, essayist, literary critic and university professor
- Marcelo Tejeda (* 1988), Salvadoran-Uruguayan football player