Architecture sights in Quito
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Monastery of San Francisco
Walking from the old town's narrow colonial streets into the open Plaza San Francisco reveals one of the finest sights in all of Ecuador - a sweeping cobblestone plaza backed by the long whitewashed walls and twin bell towers of Ecuador's oldest church, the Monastery of San Francisco. With its giant plaza and its mountainous backdrop of Volcán Pichincha this is surely one of Quito's highlights.
Construction of the monastery began only a few weeks after the founding of Quito in 1534, but the building was not finished until 70 years later. It is the city's largest colonial structure. The founder was the Franciscan missionary Joedco Ricke, who is credited with being the fir…
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Cathedral
On the plaza’s southwest side stands Quito’s cathedral. Although not the most ornate of the old town’s churches, its interior has some fascinating religious works from artists of the Quito School. Don’t miss the painting of the Last Supper, with Christ and disciples feasting on cuy (roast guinea pig), chicha (a fermented corn drink) and humitas (similar to tamales). The Nativity painting includes a llama and a horse peering over the newborn Jesus. You’ll also see the ornate tomb of Mariscal Sucre, the leading figure of Quito’s independence. Behind the main altar is a plaque showing where President Gabriel García Moreno died on August 6, 1875. He was slashed with a…
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La Compañía de Jesús
On Calle Sucre, is Ecuador’s most ornate church, La Compañía de Jesús, capped by green-and-gold domes visible from Plaza San Francisco one block away. The marvelously gilded Jesuit church was begun in 1605 and not completed for another 160 years. Free guided tours in English or Spanish highlight the church’s unique features including its Moorish elements, perfect symmetry (right down to the trompe l’oeil staircase at the rear), symbolic elements (bright-red walls a reminder of Christ’s blood) and its syncretism (Ecuadorian plants and indigenous faces hidden along the pillars). Quiteños proudly call it the most beautiful church in the country and it’s easy to s…
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Monasterio de Carmen Alto
On one side of the Arco de la Reina stands the Monasterio de Carmen Alto. Inside this fully functioning convent, cloistered nuns stay busy producing some of Quito’s tastiest traditional sweets. Top picks include the limones desamargados (literally ‘de-soured lemons’), made by hollowing out tiny lemons and filling them with a sweetened-milk concoction. Purchase them through a revolving contraption, which keeps the nuns hidden, or at the shop next door, where you can also buy traditional baked goods, aromatic waters for nerves and insomnia, bee pollen, honey and bottles of full-strength mistela (anise-flavored liqueur).
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Monastery of San Diego
Northwest of El Panecillo, this beautiful 17th-century monastery sits in a quiet courtyard behind thick walls above the old town. The only way inside is by tour, which, although it’s recited with the enthusiasm of a mass in Latin, is worth suffering through to see the wealth of colonial art inside. There are outstanding works from both the Quito and Cusco schools including one of Quito’s finest pulpits, carved by the notable indigenous woodcarver Juan Bautista Menacho.
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La Merced
Two blocks northwest of the Plaza Grande, you’ll find La Merced, constructed between 1700 and 1742. At 47m, its tower is the highest in colonial Quito. Legend has it that the tower, the only unblessed part of the church, is possessed by the devil. Supposedly the only person strong enough to resist the devil was a black bell-ringer named Ceferino, and no one has dared enter the tower since he died in 1810. Hence the clock stands still and the bell hangs unrung.
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Sanctuary of El Guápulo
At the bottom of the hill from the Mariscal, stands the neighborhood’s centerpiece, the Sanctuary of El Guápulo, a beautiful church built between 1644 and 1693. It has an excellent collection of Quito School art and sculpture, and a stunning 18th-century pulpit carved by master wood-carver Juan Bautista Menacho.
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Monastery of San Agustín
Two blocks from the Plaza Grande, the Monastery of San Agustín is a fine example of 17th-century architecture. Many of the heroes of the battles for Ecuador’s independence are buried here, and it is the site of the signing of Ecuador’s declaration of independence on August 10, 1809.
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Church of El Sagrario
Beside the cathedral on García Moreno stands the 17th-century Church of El Sagrario, originally intended as the main chapel of the cathedral but now a separate church.
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Church of Santo Domingo
The Plaza Santo Domingo is beautiful in the evening, when the domes of the 17th-century Church of Santo Domingo, on the southeast side of the plaza, are floodlit.
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