Palacio Nacional de la Cultura

Adjacent to the Old Cathedral, the 1935 Palacio Nacional de la Cultura houses the Museo Nacional. The timeline starts only 500 million years ago, as Nicaragua is one of the newest places on earth, and takes visitors through the formation of the lakes and volcanoes - not to mention gold mines - before getting to pre-Columbian statuary and one of the best pottery collections in the country, all well signed and explained.

Other exhibits whiz through the Spanish colonial period before landing in the Sandino, then Sandinista, eras. Above the main staircase is a mural of revolutionary movements in the Americas by Mexican artist Arnold Belkin, and there's also a room tracing 500 years of art (most from the 1970s). Admission includes a 30-minute guided tour in Spanish.