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 1927. A new sewer system and the redirecting of waste water to a new waste water treatment plant at Las Mercedes funded by the German government to decontaminate the lake is expected to be the largest in Central America and was inaugurated in 2009. Managua's city area extends about , essentially south from the south shore of Lake Managua. The lakeshore is at an altitude of above sea level, and the city climbs as it gets towards the Sierras de Managua further south where it is over above sea level. Geologically, the city lies on fault lines, thus seismologists predict