I came to Leon on a property search, but also for the chance to learn about the city and her wonders. This city is rich with culture and history, and her treasures include churches from the 1700s, homes from the Colonial period, and the third-largest cathedral in Latin America, the Basilica Catedral de la Asuncion, dating from 1747.

In what is arguably Central America's most Catholic country, the Leon Cathedral takes on special religious significance. It is the seat of the Bishops of Leon and has survived both Nicaragua's tumultuous history and Leon's potentially volatile location, close as it sits to a range of 10 volcanoes, including one of Nicaragua's most famous, Momotombo.

Its subterranean sotano, or tunnels, shelter the crypts of famous Nicaraguan poets such as Salomon de la Selva. (Some say he's second in Nicaragua only to Ruben Dario, Nicaragua's poet laureate, who is buried in the nave above, to the right of the altar.) The tunnels are also home in death to Father Marcelino Areas Poveda, largely responsible for the restoration of the Cathedral after the Sandinista occupation of the north and south towers during the revolution. And this is also where you will find "La Dolorosa," the Lady in Pain. This 200-plus-year-old image was given to the Cathedral as a gift from Spain and is on exhibition only because the lowered lighting in the tunnels will not harm her.

The tunnels once served as connecting passages to eight of Leon's most important churches, including Iglesia San Francisco, La Merced, El Calvario, La Subtiava, and others. These smaller churches, constructed as people moved out from the center of Leon, served the faithful who lived too far away to walk back to the Cathedral twice a day.

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First Published: Apr 30, 2005