Barrio Sutiava, an indigenous stronghold, predates the rest of Leon. Members of the Chorotega tribe founded the original town and lived beside the Spanish Leon until their new neighbors forced them to become part of the new city. A Chorotega revolt in 1725 was put down, but the area known as “Subtiava” was able to retain a relative independence from the growing metropolis until 1902. 
The neighborhood’s heavily indigenous population recently decided to change the name from the former Subtiava, since they felt the former spelling was derogatory, according to the tourism office in Leon.  
The neighborhood has attractions such as San Juan Bautista Sutiava, the oldest church in Leon, and Museo Adiacto, a museum that opened in 1979 and features pieces that track the history of the neighborhood, including ceramics and stonework. 
 
During the Good Friday of Semana Santa, residents of the neighborhood make religious murals out of colored sawdust. The designs are created freehand and range in crude Jesus portraits to sweeping, sunset colored images of angels in flight. A procession baring religious statues, eventually walks across these passion carpets and wipes them out. The tradition is ancient and may have originated with laying carpets of flowers before local kinds, although modern themes are Biblically inspired.