Panamá La Vieja Walking Tour

Massive stone walls and heaps of age- and fire-blackened rubble are about all that’s left of Panamá’s once opulent first city, called Panamá La Vieja (Old Panamá), which was destroyed by fire in 1671. The conflagration consumed all of its wooden buildings, sparing only the stone walls of the most impressive structures. Just one escaped the flames, the Convent and Church of San José, with its legendary golden altar. Centuries of neglect took a further toll on the abandoned city and, when restoration began a few years ago, only its cathedral bell tower remained largely intact.With a good guide, you can visualize the long-lost grandeur of this huge city that spread west and north from the cathedral plaza on a promontory above the sea. The site is hauntingly beautiful, partly shaded by giant trees – including some ancient and beautiful Panamá trees.

The city’s cathedral, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built between 1610 and 1626, and the neighboring Bishop’s House (Casa Alarcon) are the two best-preserved structures, both near the ruins’ main entrance. Restoration of the cathedral’s three-story bell tower is well underway, but there is little chance that Panamá la Vieja can ever be fully restored – too much has been lost and part of its outlying district now lies beneath a modern slum neighborhood.

The fine Panamá Viejo Museum is at the main entrance, in the same building with a cooperative craft market. Visit the museum before entering the ruins to get an idea of what the city was like in its heyday. During the recent restorations, archaeologists have uncovered a collection of 16th- and 17th-century Spanish artifacts and a much older indigenous burial ground dated to the first century BC. One of these burials has been removed and now lies inside a glass case exactly as it was discovered, complete with the deceased’s skeleton surrounded by earthenware pottery. Signs posted in English and Spanish explain the history of each artifact. Be sure to see the well-executed scale model of the city as it was in 1671. It has tiny lights, illuminated by an operator in coordination with a taped description of its principal buildings and features. The tapes are played in both English and Spanish.

Take time to browse the crafts market, in the same building as the museum. This cooperative venture helps provide income to Panamá’s indigenous groups. You’ll find a vast selection of outstanding baskets and tagua carvings made by Emberá and Wounaan people, Kuna molas, Ngöbe- Buglé chaquiras (beaded collars once worn by warriors) and woven bags, along with assorted pottery, wood carvings, paintings, and evenT-shirts.

Panamá la Vieja (also known as Panamá Viejo) is on the outskirts of Panamá City, about four miles east of the city’s downtown area. Head east from the city on Av Cincuentenario (also named Av Balboa or Via Israel, depending on where you get on) and stay on this main road until you come to the ruins. Panamá la Vieja is open Monday through Saturday, 9 am to 4 pm, and Sunday from 9 am to 1 pm. Your $1.50 admission fee includes a visit to the ruins. There is free parking in front of the building that houses the Panamá Viejo Museum and crafts market. A new, much larger museum on the highway west of the site may have opened by the time you read this. Watch for it on the right.