San Francisco Convent (Iglesia de San Francisco)

As far as identifiable buildings in Granada go, it doesn't get much more noticeable than the baby-blue facade on the Iglesia San Francisco. The church dates back to 1529, making it one of the oldest in Central America, but the original church was destroyed and rebuilt a few times. The building has served many purposes in its life - including housing the military and a university - and today it's a museum.

Visitors enter the San Francisco church museum through a door on the left of the facade, and the museum's collection includes a big scale model of Granada and a superb selection of artwork by the region's native peoples. The main draw, however, of the Iglesia San Francisco (also called the Antiguo Convento San Francisco) is the collection of statues from Zapatera Island. These basalt statues, dating from 800-1200 AD, were discovered and brought from the island in the 1920s.

The San Francisco church is a few blocks from the main cathedral in Granada, and there's a small admission fee to enter the museum.