Puerta de la Ciudad, Loja
Castle-like city gate of 1998 modelled on Loja's royal coat of arms, with galleries and viewpoints.
The Puerta de la Ciudad stands at the northern entrance to Loja, where the Zamora and Malacatos rivers meet. Completed in 1998, it is a modern building in the form of a fortified gate, its towers, battlements and arch modelled on the coat of arms that Philip II granted the city in 1571, when Loja was regarded as the gateway to the Amazon. Although recent, it has become the emblem of the city and the point where visitors are formally welcomed.
The interior opened to the public as a municipal museum in 2001. An archaeology gallery shows tools and ceramics of the region's pre-Hispanic cultures, and two further rooms hold rotating exhibitions of painting, photography and craft. A café occupies an upper floor, and stairs continue to viewing galleries in the towers that look over the historic centre, the rivers and the hills around Loja. Admission to the building is free.
Highlights
- Built in 1998 to the design of the 1571 royal coat of arms
- Municipal museum and archaeology gallery since 2001
- Two rooms of rotating art and photography exhibitions
- Tower viewpoints over the city and the Zamora river
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