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.