Quito’s colonial quarter, Ecuador’s living museum witness to a thousand stories

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Quito is a great open-air display of the history of art and universal architecture,” says Fabian Amores, general director of the Mediarte group on the amalgam of styles that reflect the different historical and artistic moments of this ancient city known as the “Light of America”.

A visible sample of the architecture of the colonial quarter is possible through its numerous museums, many of which are integrated into imposing architectural structures, while the small doors of other buildings offer visitors a tour of its more unknown past.

ART, RELIGION AND ARCHITECTURE

Although Quito began its history long before the arrival of the Spaniards, its art was driven from the 16th century onward by successive European currents and influences that encouraged a thriving local creativity.

The Museum of San Francisco, inside the Convent of the same name and containing one of the best collections of colonial religious art, is perhaps one of its most emblematic examples, along with the Church of the Society of Jesus.

Its works, from the 17th to the 19th centuries, belong to the famous Quito School of artists such as Miguel de Santiago, Manuel Chili “Caspicara” or Bernardo de Legarda.

The latter’s “Immaculate Virgin of Quito” (1734), his artistic masterpiece, occupies the main altar of the church of this 3.5 hectare architectural complex which took over 100 years to build.

Another of its most important works is “The denial of Peter” (17th century), of anonymous authorship and consists of two sculptures whose heads were created on human skulls.

With 3 galleries and 8 exhibition rooms, visitors can also tour the convent’s 2 main cloisters, the choir, the bell towers and the old brewery.

“We are a living museum. Tourists not only have the experience of visiting museum spaces, they can also experience the daily life of friars,” said its director Pablo Rodriguez.

CONVENT, CLOISTER AND MUSEUM

A few blocks away is the Carmen Alto Museum, of the Discalced Carmelite mendicant order, which houses some 3,000 heritage items including paintings, sculptures, textiles, documents, books and musical instruments.

“The Dormition of the Virgin,” one of its most famed sculptural ensembles, is made up of 17 figures from the 18th century representing the Virgin, the 12 apostles, 2 angels and 2 cousins of the Virgin, explains Nataly Albán, guide supervisor of the Museum opened to the public in 2013 after 4 centuries of secluded life.

In the monastery for over 360 years, the composition is life-size and carved in wood, while the garments are decorated with gold leaf brocade.

Enveloped in an almost absolute silence despite being located in the heart of the busy colonial quarter, the museum has more than 20 exhibition rooms.

Of the 80 museums and heritage houses in the Ecuadorian capital, including the National Museum, the largest repository of the country’s historical memory, Amores estimates that some 15 are located in the colonial quarter, a UNESCO cultural heritage site since 1978.

LITTLE VERSAILLES

At the foot of the iconic Virgen del Panecillo, the most recognizable symbol of the Andean city, are also the Colonial Art Museum, the Pasillo Museum, and the Casa de Sucre, a memorial to the Latin American independence hero.

Just a 5-minute walk away, the Alberto Mena Caamaño Museum of Art and History recreates in wax the event that led to the independence process in Ecuador and, perhaps, in all of Latin America: the massacre of the patriots on August 2, 1810.

“This site powerfully preserves the massacre of 300 people, which diametrically changed the history of America because, in some way, this uprising contributed to igniting that little fire that triggered the independence of a whole continent,” Amores says.

The City Museum, which for 400 years operated as a hospital, and the Old Military Circle, with its huge halls and built around 1917, is “a small copy of Versailles,” nestled in the heart of Quito.

A small sample of that rich past comes to life with every step through the narrow and steep streets of colonial Quito.