Panamá Viejo

Panama City was founded in 1519 on this site, the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, and it functioned as the gateway through which Peruvian silver crossed the isthmus. In 1671 it was sacked and burned during a raid led by Henry Morgan, and rather than rebuild in place, the survivors moved several kilometres west to the defensible peninsula that became Casco Viejo. The old site was left, and its stone ruins stand today with the modern city's towers directly behind them, which makes for one of the more striking urban juxtapositions anywhere. The cathedral tower can be climbed, and a good museum explains the pre-Columbian settlement that preceded the Spanish one.

History

Pedro Arias Dávila and about a hundred settlers founded the town on 15 August 1519, the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific, replacing Santa María la Antigua del Darién and Acla; in 1521 it became a city with a coat of arms from Charles V, and it served as a starting point for the expeditions to Peru and the base from which gold and silver were sent to Spain. Genoese merchants ran its Pacific trade for about a century from 1520 under a Spanish concession, fires in 1539 and 1563 burnt parts of it without halting its growth, by 1610 it had about 5,000 people and 500 houses, and on 21 February 1644 the Great Fire took 83 religious buildings, the cathedral among them. On 28 January 1671 the Welsh privateer Henry Morgan attacked with 1,400 men, marching across the isthmus from the Caribbean, and the city was laid waste and later rebuilt on a new site; in 1997 the ruins became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Panamá Viejo).

Highlights

• The cathedral tower - climbable, with the ruins in front and the skyline behind.
• The convent ruins - stone shells of religious houses across the site.
• The site museum - pre-Columbian and colonial material, well presented.
• The skyline contrast - sixteenth-century stone against modern towers.

When to go

December to April for drier weather. Early morning or late afternoon avoids both the heat and the harsh light; the tower view towards the modern skyline works best in the late afternoon.

Things to know

It is ruins and foundations rather than standing buildings, and the site is spread out with limited shade. The surrounding neighbourhood is not one to wander at night. Most visitors combine it with Casco Viejo, which is more immediately rewarding, and give Panamá Viejo an hour or two.

Nearby

Casco Viejo is 20 minutes west; the Panama Canal locks lie beyond it.

Key facts