Panamá Viejo Archaeological Site
Ruins of the first Spanish city on the Pacific, founded 1519, with a climbable cathedral tower and site museum.
Panamá Viejo is what remains of the city founded by Pedro Arias Dávila in 1519, the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas and the staging point for the conquest of Peru. Laid out on an irregular grid beside a tidal bay, it grew into a wealthy transit town where silver from South America was carried across the isthmus. The city was abandoned in 1671 after an attack led by the privateer Henry Morgan and a fire that destroyed most of it.
The surviving stone shells include the cathedral with its square bell tower, the convents of Santo Domingo, San José and La Merced, the Casas Reales and a bridge over the Matasnillo. The site is managed by the Patronato Panamá Viejo and was inscribed by UNESCO in 1997, later extended to include the Historic District of Panama City. The Plaza Mayor museum displays more than 350 objects covering pre-Hispanic and colonial periods.
Highlights
- Cathedral bell tower, climbable for views over the ruins and bay
- Convent shells of Santo Domingo, San José and La Merced
- Museo de la Plaza Mayor with over 350 archaeological objects
- UNESCO World Heritage site, inscribed in 1997
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