The Maya and Tikal
The Maya built great cities in the rainforests of Guatemala. The most famous is Tikal, in the northern region of Petén, inside the Maya Forest.[2] People lived there from the 6th century BCE to around the 10th century CE, when the city declined.[2]
Tikal has temples, palaces, ceremonial platforms, ball courts and public squares connected by ramps.[2] Its tall temples rise above the treetops of the forest.
Tikal National Park covers about 57,600 hectares of wetlands, savanna and tropical forest.[2] It is home to jaguars, pumas, many kinds of monkeys and birds.[2] UNESCO recognizes it for both its culture and its nature, which is rare among World Heritage sites.[2] Students who study Tikal learn how the Maya built a city that lasted more than a thousand years.
Another Maya site, Quiriguá, lies in the department of Izabal in eastern Guatemala.[8] People lived there from the 2nd century CE, and between the years 426 and 810 its sculptors carved tall stone monuments called stelae, with hieroglyphic texts, without using metal tools.[8] Its carved stelae and sculpted calendars are an important source for Maya history, and Quiriguá has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981.[8]
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala was founded in the early 1500s as Santiago de Guatemala, at about 1,530 meters above sea level.[3] It was the capital of the Captaincy-General of Guatemala and the region’s center of culture, trade, religion, government and education.[3]
The city survived floods, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes until 1773, when the Santa Marta earthquakes destroyed much of it.[3] The capital was moved to a safer place, which became today’s Guatemala City, and the old town came to be called La Antigua Guatemala.[3]
Antigua’s grid of streets is one of the best surviving examples of Spanish colonial town planning in Latin America.[3] Many of its Baroque churches still stand as ruins, surrounded by volcanoes.[3] Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site.[3]
Holy Week traditions
Holy Week, the week before Easter, is one of the most important times of the year in Guatemala. Communities hold processions, vigils and funeral marches, prepare special seasonal foods and decorate the streets.[4]
People create carpets, decorated gardens and altars along the streets for the processions to pass over.[4] Families and neighbors often work through the night to finish them, and many are made with colored sawdust, flowers and fruit.
Holy Week in Guatemala joined UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2022.[4] It brings together faith, art and community, and visitors come from around the world to see it, especially in Antigua and Guatemala City.
Giant kites and the Day of the Dead
In the towns of Santiago Sacatepéquez and Sumpango, people build giant kites over several months.[5] They show them at fairs held for the Day of the Saints and the Dead, at the start of November.[5]
The kites are meant to communicate with ancestors who have died.[5] They are made of colored tissue paper on frames of cane, with detailed designs, and some are many meters across. The tradition dates back to the late 1800s and early 1900s.[5]
The technique of making these giant kites joined UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2024.[5] The kites are a colorful way for families to remember their loved ones, similar in spirit to Mexico’s Day of the Dead.
People and languages
About 18.7 million people live in Guatemala.[1] Spanish is the official language, and more than twenty Mayan languages, such as K’iche’, Q’eqchi’ and Kaqchikel, are spoken across the country. Many people grow up speaking a Mayan language at home and Spanish at school.
On the Caribbean coast live the Garifuna, a people of mixed Indigenous Caribbean and African heritage who settled in Central America in the 1700s.[6] Their language belongs to the Arawakan family, and their language, dance and music are on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list.[6]
Guatemala is famous for hand-woven textiles with bright patterns, volcanoes and Lake Atitlán. Guatemala has several UNESCO World Heritage sites.[7] Students can compare Guatemala with its neighbors on our North America page.
Free printable: map of North America (PDF)
Questions people ask
What is Guatemala famous for?
Guatemala is famous for the Maya city of Tikal, the colonial town of Antigua, Holy Week processions, giant kites and colorful textiles.[2][3][4][5]
What language do they speak in Guatemala?
Spanish is the official language, and many Mayan languages are also spoken.
What is Tikal?
Tikal is an ancient Maya city in the forests of northern Guatemala, inhabited from the 6th century BCE to around the 10th century CE.[2]
Why is it called Antigua Guatemala?
After earthquakes in 1773, the capital moved to a new city, and the old one became known as La Antigua Guatemala.[3]
Who are the Garifuna?
A people of mixed Indigenous Caribbean and African heritage who live on the Caribbean coast of Central America.[6]
Sources
- World Bank Open Data: Guatemala · data.worldbank.org/country/guatemala (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tikal National Park · whc.unesco.org/en/list/64 (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Antigua Guatemala · whc.unesco.org/en/list/65 (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Holy Week in Guatemala · ich.unesco.org/en/RL/holy-week-in-guatemala-01854 (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Technique of making the giant kites of Santiago Sacatepéquez and Sumpango · ich.unesco.org/en/RL/technique-of-making-the-giant-kites-of-santiago-sacatepequez-and-sumpango-guatemala-01991 (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Language, dance and music of the Garifuna · ich.unesco.org/en/RL/language-dance-and-music-of-the-garifuna-00001 (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Guatemala (State Party page) · whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/gt (accessed 2026-10-30)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua · whc.unesco.org/en/list/149 (accessed 2026-10-30)
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