Old city of Panama Viejo!

The Monumental Historic Site of Panama Viejo, designated as such by the Law 91 of December 1976 and also known as the Archaeological Site of Panama Viejo or as Panama La Vieja, is located within the modern city of Panama, between the mouths of the Algarrobo and Abajo rivers, in front of the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the narrowest section of the Isthmus.

The set includes the ruins of the first European settlement on the American Pacific coast, as well as a series of vestiges of the first inhabitants of the Isthmus. The first city of Panama was founded by Pedrarias Dávila on August 15, 1519, and had about 10,000 inhabitants in the seventeenth century. It was the main residence of the elite in Tierra Firme, as well as the headquarters of the representatives of the Crown and the local administrative apparatus of the church, the two mainstays of colonial society.

At first the function of Panama was closely related to the expeditions of conquest that went to South America, but its strategic role as the axis of one of the most important trade routes of the time placed the city in a privileged position and marked from then its destiny like territory to the service of the international transit.

In 1671 the city was destroyed in the attack of the English pirate Henry Morgan and was never rebuilt, leaving the remains of the old city abandoned for more than two centuries. This radical abandonment would allow in the long term the archaeological conservation of the historical remains of the buildings and important structures, while the activity of the city moved to what is now known as Casco Antiguo.

The city of Panama in the seventeenth century had an area of ​​approximately 60 hectares, now the Monumental Historic Site of Panama Viejo comprises about 28 hectares, including both the ruins of some of the most important buildings of the colonial era, and the vestiges archaeological sites of the pre-Hispanic and colonial periods. On July 5, 2003, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee included the Archaeological Site of Panama Viejo on the World Heritage list as an extension of the Historic District of Panama.