The trippy Acoustic Shell was designed by US artist Glen Howard and completed in July 2005. It overlooks Plaza de la Fé Juan Pablo II , which commemorates Pope John Paul II’s appearances here in 1983 and 1996.
Other monuments in this area include the statue of Latin American liberation superhero Simón Bolívar , donated by the government of Venezuela in 1997; slightly overgrown Plaza de la Cultura de Guatemala ; and the unabashedly political, disturbingly disproportionate Estatua al Soldado (Nameless Guerrilla Soldier) on the western side of Av Bolívar, catercorner to the Centro Cultural Managua. ‘Workers and campesinos onward till the end,’ reads the inscription, which explains the pickax, if not the assault rifle with a Sandinista flag sticking out of it. A block away, the Monumento al Trabajador Nicaragüense – another uncomfortably contorted sculpture, this one commissioned by the Liberals – celebrates the Nicaraguan worker with a bronzed, rather hunchbacked couple who look like they need a vacation and decent health care.
