Managua original concrete and gray surface became accepted and Catholic pilgrims began to embrace the church as it was. Managua is Nicaragua's cultural capital, boasting several restaurants, theaters, museums, and a few shopping centers. The city is also home to many communities of immigrants and ex-pats from countries including but not limited to Taiwan, China, Germany, the United States, Palestine, and Latin American countries. Managua is home to the annual Miss Nicaragua pageant; it is the national beauty pageant of Nicaragua. The pageant is traditionally held at the Rubén Darío National Theatre and has been held since 1955. Due to the
Managua the Old Cathedral of Managua was designed by Belgian architects, and the iron that was used to shape the core of the cathedral was shipped from Belgium. Construction lasted from 1928 to 1938, overseen by Pablo Dambach, who was a Belgian engineer residing in Managua. The architects had been inspired by the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, France. The St. James' Cathedral became the first cathedral in the Western Hemisphere to be built entirely of concrete on a metal frame. The cathedral survived the 1931 earthquake, but was heavily damaged during the 1972 earthquake, which eventually led to the construction