Casco Viejo II | Friday Aug 06, 2010
Continuing with photos from Casco Viejo. You can read the history of the area in my first entry.
The Iglesia de San Francisco is one of the original structures from the settling of Casco Viejo. It has been ravaged by fire twice in the 1700s. It was restored in 1998.
This building and it's amazing interior is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the arm of the government that deals with other nations. The view from the inside looks across the pacific all the way to Panama Viejo. And all I had to do to get in was to sign my name to a book. Try that with our state department. At one time this was a school that my cousin attended as an elementary student. Can you imagine this being your school? The building was recently renovated in 2000.
A few more of the lovely buildings in Casco Viejo.
The building with flag is Palacio de las Garzas (Heron's Palace). It is the official name of the presidential palace, named for the numerous herons that inhabit the building. The original building was constructed in 1673. Again, a guard checked my bag and that was it. The next thing I knew I was standing in front of the presidential residence. It was very interesting to observe the difference between this small country and the superpower of the United States. The government has dealt with terrorism and assassination attempts in the past, but it is more accepted than it is in the U.S. Not to say that the country approves of it, but it is the way of the world that I think the U.S. is just now realizing.
The Metropolitan Cathedral is located on Plaza de la Independencia which is the site of many events throughout the year and through Panama's history. The cathedral is a wonderful representation of Spanish architecture in the country. Construction began in 1673 and took more than 100 years to complete. The building had a 4 million dollar restoration in 2004.
Many more photos from Casco Viejo in my Flickr set.
Flickr set: Panama
Tags: architecture canon50d panama panama_city
Galleries: Panama Architecture
- Canon
- Canon EOS 50D
- F9
- 1/200 sec
- 10.0 mm
- 100
- 0
- Normal program
- Flash did not fire, auto
- 4.29
- Multi-segment
