12.4003°N, 86.6164°W.
Leon Viejo is the original Spanish colonial capital of Nicaragua, founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba on the western shore of Lake Managua at the foot of the Momotombo volcano. The city was built on the site of an existing indigenous settlement and incorporated indigenous labor and construction techniques in its earliest phases — most buildings combined cut stone foundations, adobe walls, and tile roofs. Leon Viejo served as the colonial seat for 86 years until repeated volcanic activity from Momotombo, regional earthquakes, and chronic disease prompted abandonment in 1610, when the surviving population relocated to the modern city of Leon 32 kilometres west. The buried city was rediscovered in 1967 and systematically excavated by Edgardo Buitrago and others. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2000.
The remains of the cathedral hold the bones of Hernandez de Cordoba, the city's founder, who was beheaded here in 1526 by his rival Pedrarias Davila in the principal plaza.