The Golden Altar

The church of San José in Casco Viejo holds the Altar de Oro, a mahogany baroque altarpiece covered in gold leaf that stands the full height of the apse. The story attached to it is that it was in the old city when Henry Morgan sacked it in 1671, and that a priest had it painted or whitewashed over and told Morgan the church had already been robbed, whereupon Morgan is supposed to have donated to its restoration. Historians treat this with considerable scepticism, but the altar is real and was moved here when the city was rebuilt on the new site. The church itself is otherwise plain, which makes the contrast sharper.

What you actually see

• The Altar de Oro - full-height carved mahogany covered in gold leaf.
• The plain interior - which throws the altar into relief.
• The Morgan story - repeated everywhere and doubted by historians.
• Casco Viejo - the World Heritage old town around it.

When to go

Year-round; open daily outside services with a break around midday. Mornings are quietest. It takes about twenty minutes and fits into any walk through Casco Viejo.

Honest expectations

It is one altar in an otherwise plain church and takes twenty minutes. The Morgan story is almost certainly folklore; it appears in no contemporary account. The altar is gilded wood rather than solid gold, which the name misleads people about. Casco Viejo outside the restored core still has rough blocks.

Nearby

Casco Viejo surrounds it; the Panama Canal museum is on the main plaza.