Sites of Interest: Old Town

Quito's Old Town is a wonder, blocks and blocks of colonial architecture, some of it dating to the mid 1500s when the Spanish founded the city. Vintage facades line the streets and large open plazas are surrounded by cathedrals and stately public buildings. It has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Quito is said to have at least 86 magnificent churches, occupying up to one quarter of the city's area. Most are accompanied by convents or monasteries. Large, blank exterior walls symbolize the division between the outer and inner world, where nuns from wealthy and poor backgrounds worship side by side. Time away from prayer was often used to decorate walls and ceilings with elaborate paintings Students, servants, and other secular residents still help tend indoor gardens and attend to daily tasks such as sewing, cooking, and cleaning.

Many churches closed for repairs after the earthquake of 1987 and some are still undergoing restoration. Flash pictures are prohibited in most churches and historical museums to protect the fragile pigments of religious paintings and statues.

OLD TOWN

There are excellent maps and guides put together by the Municipality of Quito describing the historic walks and significance of the monuments in old town. These guides are available throughout the city.

Plaza de La Independencia, at the heart of colonial Quito features a winged statue to independence atop a high pillar. The city's cathedral houses the tomb of Quito's liberator, Field Marshal Antonio Jose de Sucre. The exceptional sculpting abilities of Manuel Chili Caspicara can be appreciated in the 18th-century tableau The Holy Shroud, which hangs behind the choir, and in the intricate designs of the rococo Chapel of St. Ann in the right aisle.

Catedral Metropolitana is actually the third to stand on this site. Jose Antonio Sucre, the number-two man in South America's independence battles, is buried here. Behind the main altar is the smaller altar of Nuestra Senora de Los Dolores, president Gabriel Garcia Moreno drew his last breath after being shot outside the presidential palace. At the entrance to the main courtyard off the walkway stand two long-suffering guards in full uniform who must be the most-photographed people in the country.

The former Palacio Arzobispal (Archbishop's Palace) on the northeast side now houses a series of small shops and boutiques. Cobbled courtyards, thick-whitewashed walls, and wood- en balconies make it worth a peek. The plaza's colonial spell is broken only by the stark City Hall to the southeast, whose simple glass lines still manage to echo those of the Palacio de Go- bierno opposite.

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