Chalchuapa
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| Chalchuapa | |
  Chalchuapa
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country |  El Salvador |
| Department | Santa Ana Department |
| Population (2005) | |
| - Total | 72,728 |
Chalchuapa is a city and a municipality in the Santa Ana department of El Salvador. The city of Chalchuapa is located in a wide valley at 1700 meters of height, and watered by the Pampe River. It is located at 15 Kilometers to the west of Santa Ana city. It possesses in its area the pool “El trapiche”, of fresh and transparent waters, and the place of Casa Blanca, which exhibits the immortal rock over which the reformed General Justo Rufino Barrios of Guatemala fell deadly wounded in the bloody battle of April 2nd, 1885. It also possesses an entablature church of pure colonial style. It is a beautiful architectonic jewel consecrated to the patron of the city of Santiago Apostol whose Lyric representation crowns the dome of the temple on horseback.
Chalchuapa, which in nahuat language means “Rios de jadeitas”, was the most remarkable emporium of the civilization of the Pok´omames, town of the Mayan-quiche or Mayance family and constitutes without a doubt some the most remarkable archeological areas of the country, with five ceremonial centers: Tazumal, Pampe, Trapiche, Casa Blanca, and Las Victorias, and also, the lagoon of Cuzcachapa. These Pre-Columbus vestiges are scattered in an area of 6 kilometers square.
The ruins of Tazumal possess a main monticule of 23 meters of height (the inferior structures are buried) located in a block and forming two truncated pyramids to the west. It has eight pilasters with chiseled figures. To the north, there are other complex constructions and a dance patio with ladders. The “ball game”, almost totally destroyed, was in the field of the current cemetery.
In the western flank of Ku or Teocali, there is a monolith carved in basaltic rock called “Estela de Tazumal” of 2.65 meters high and 1.16 meters wide. It represents a richly adorned character, showing on the side hieroglyphical inscriptions that are possibly chronological, but different from the classical of the Mayan culture
[edit] Church Of Santiago Apostle-Chalchuapa
One of the most well-known legends is the one that explains the way in which the Maid of Santa Ana arrived at this place. It is said that “some Indians were taking this image to Honduras. When they were going through what is now Santa Ana, it was already dark and they decided to spend the night near a great Ceiba that was located in the only plaza of the place, called Cihuatehuacan at the time. At dawn, they wanted to lift the image to continue their journey, but it became very heavy and impossible to move, so they decided to leave it in that place”. A hermitage was erected afterwards and later on, a church.
Another legend is about the Señora de Santa Ana: during “the Revolution of the 44”, on one of the most important battles that took place in the hill Techan, the soldiers were desperate, almost without weapons, and the opposite band was very close. Suddenly, they saw a strange, tall, and beautiful lady arrive that had a bundle in their apron and a pitcher of water. She started to give them drinking water. Afterwards, it was known that it had been the Señora de Santa Ana who liberated them in that battle.
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