Catedral de guayaquil

On September 14, 1838 the Church was given the category of Cathedral by Pope Gregory XVI. Its original wooden construction was in the middle
of the 16th century. It was located near the Las Peñas neighborhood. From that date until today, the Patron Saint of the city is the Apostle Santiago.

At the end of the XVII century several fires devastated the city, one of them occurred in 1692 and destroyed the wooden church.

The current Cathedral was built in 1965 on Chimborazo Street. In front of the Cathedral are the carved images of the Four Evangelists, present on
the site since it was built. There are two towers that end in neogothic needles. In the past, one of these clocks was used to mark the tide of the Guayas River. In the upper area is the image of Santiago Mayor. Inside the cathedral there are three naves: central, lateral and transept. Next to the altar there is a chapel designated to the Blessed Sacrament, and below it there is a crypt where tombs over 200 years old rest. There are a large number of stained glass windows, ogives, images of apostles, blessed,
saints. There are three important processions in the year in this Cathedral: Corpus Christi, Heart of Jesus and Christ the King.

Seminario Park

This park is also called Parque de las Iguanas (iguana park) because of the reptiles that live in it, this is one of the oldest parks in the city.

The park is located in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, between chile, 10 de agosto, chimborazo and clemente ballén streets. The park was placed in the city in the 18th century, a place that was already
occupied by the Plaza de Armas (square of arms) since 1693 when the town council moved to the New City.

During the colonial era in America, the vast majority of the region’s cities had a Plaza de Armas. And it was established on this place. Later on, it was called: Plaza de La Estrella (Star Square), due to the placement of an eight-pointed star in limestone rock that was brought from the San Eduardo hill, after the independence of 1820.

Later it was called: Plaza de Bolívar, because a monument was built in the middle of the square in homage to the liberator. The last name it acquired is: Parque Seminario in memory of Miguel Suárez Seminario and his family, who built and donated to the City Hall their ornaments, perimeter fences, gazebo, lagoon, benches and lanterns.

municipal museum

More than 100 years of history and nearly 12,000 objects, the Municipal Museum opened on 10 August 1909 and has rooms inside where you can visit the art and archaeology of different periods. In the past this
was the Industrial Museum, founded in July 1863.

Guayaquil society at the beginning of the 20th century was very focused on recovering its own history and leaving a significant testimony of it
for future generations.

Today the museum contains works of: Prehistory, Cologne, Independence, Republic, and 20th century. Sacred Art, Numismatics. There is also a room for temporary exhibitions and technical reserves.
The mural on the main façade is one of the most captivating things, because it is made with glass ceramics and corrugated iron bars by the
Guayaquil artist Jorge Swett.

nahím isaías museum

The Nahím Isaías Museum is a glimpse into the history of the city of Guayaquil. It has around 2,500 collection pieces that range from paintings and sculptures from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, as well as Republican art from the 19th century. It exposes the theme of the colonial cosmogony (based on the four elements: fire, earth, water and
air).The wonderful art of the famous colonial Escuela de Arte Quiteña, characterized at this time by its religiousness.

The collection of these works is an authentic manifestation of the history of the territory that was known as the Real Audiencia of Quito, currently Ecuador. The result of the encounter between two civilizations with their different cultural, philosophical, political and social realities. There is also space for temporary exhibitions of emerging art proposals that are displayed in a room.

Hemiciclo La Rotonda

La Rotonda reminds us that Guayaquil is a centre of secret and historical meetings, it commemorates the famous «Entrevista de Guayaquil (Interview of Guayaquil) carried out on July 26th 1822, by the liberators Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín, a milestone in the history of the country and of the city that with time became another of the representative engravings of the urban environment.

This monument is located on the Malecón de Guayaquil on 9 de Octubre Street.

Parque Seminario

The Parque Seminario also known as Parque de las Iguanas, is one of the oldest, important, and iconic sites preserved in the city centre of Guayaquil. Because of the reptiles that inhabit this place it is also commonly known as Parque de las Iguanas (Park of the Iguanas).

This park is in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, between the streets Chile, 10 de Agosto, Chimborazo, and Clemente Ballén.

Guayaquil Municipal Museum

Guayaquil society at the beginning of the 20th century was marked and defined by a passion for recovering the country’s history and leaving a transcendent testimony to society. Due to this action, this inherent cultural space with an important historical legacy about Ecuador is still preserved.

The Municipal Museum building, inaugurated on August 10, 1909, has more than 100 years of history and nearly 12,000 objects in its interior. It has rooms inside where you can visit art and archaeology from different periods.

Nahím Isaías Museum

The Nahím Isaías Museum is a look at the history of the city of Guayaquil. It has around 2,500 collection pieces ranging from paintings to sculptures from the XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries. A collection of pieces about the history of the Real Audiencia de Quito, currently Ecuador. It also has space for temporary exhibitions of emerging art proposals that are exhibited in a hall.

Palace of the governor’s Office

The Palace is one of the most historically and culturally important heritage buildings in the city. It is here that the President of the Republic has his highest representative in the province. Although the building has been built since the last century, this site has been the place where the functions of the Governorship have been established since years before the independence of the city.

A map drawn up in 1770 shows the building of the Governor’s Office, where it is shown that the Customs and Accounting Office also operated. The last building of the Governor’s Office was built in wood
and burned down in 1971. It was a three-storey building, where there were several offices such as: Political Headquarters, Civil Registry, among others. For this reason it was considered the most important
public building due to the large number of institutions that operated within the construction.

The current building in a Renaissance style was
built between March 23rd 1923 and finished in August 1924. The German architect August Ridder designed an initial layout of the new building, which was later modified by the Italian engineer Mario
Gherardi, a technician from the Sociedad General de Construcciones. Emilio Soro Lenti, an Italian, carried out the work on the building’s ornament in 1923.

The building is located in the Administration Square, the most important administrative area of the city at present was built at the same time as the Municipal Palace. Aesthetically it is different, but volumetrically it is very similar. It is a unique body that is ragmented
inside by a wide central gallery in the east – west and north – south direction. The building of the Governor’s Office of the province of Guayas was declared a cultural heritage site on July 23rd, 1982.

fragua de vulcano monument

The sculptural work of the Spanish artist Víctor Ochoa. The heroes of independence are present. On the left of Olmedo are the figures of Luis Urdaneta, Miguel de Letamendi, León de Febres-Cordero, Gregorio Escobedo, Juan Francisco and Antonio Elizalde; the one on the right is Luis Fernando Vivero, Lorenzo de Garaycoa, José de Villamil, Francisco María Roca, José de Antepara, Rafael María Jimena and Francisco de Paula Lavayen.

Some historians indicate that the symbols found in the monument of the Fragua de Vulcano are the symbolic relationship that José de Antepara made in reference to the secret meetings with the Roman god of fire and metal, son of Jupiter and Juno: Vulcano, the one who made chains as much as he broke them, who made yokes as much as he broke them. And
the symbolism has no Masonic links. However, there is also the theory that those who participated were members of a local Masonic lodge and others of a group from a universal lodge.

Moorish Tower

The clock brought from Belgium by the Jesuits in 1732 was installed in the tower of the «Casa de las Temporalidades» located at that time in the street of La Compañía (Clemente Ballén) and the street of La Cárcel (Chimborazo). The new clock that had arrived in the city remained there throughout the course of the 19th century.

However, in the 20th century, the house of the town council began to deteriorate and the tower where
the clock was located had to be dismantled and it was moved to the market on the shore in front of the town hall. It was kept in this place until 1920 and then by decision of the Council they decided to hire Mr. Nicolás Virgilio Bardelin on June 6th 1921 to start
the construction of a tower made of wood and lined with cement, so that it could house the clock that Vicente Rocafuerte had brought. The Municipal Clock or Moorish Tower is considered in a poetic way «the companion of the city of Guayaquil» during its last 150 years. In June 2013, the clock was adapted so that the original clock from London once again showed the time and its bronze bell rang periodically every hour.

Malecón 2000

The history of the Malecon 2000 is linked to the history of Guayaquil, because on this basis the outline of the city was created in a territory of
adverse natural characteristics. The construction of the boardwalk could be considered as an adventure, since it not only had human intervention in its construction but also among those who participated in its daily activities.

They were canoes, barges, rafts, ships loaded with fruits of the field, almud of corn, vegetables, piles of mangoes, lemons, coconuts, oranges, among an endless number of products that were transported by
horsemen or mules in opposite directions on the rails to the Customs House. The boardwalk was a great advance for the local and foreign population, its location was intelligent, its structure was designed to protect the city from the ebb and flow of the river tides, its base provided better conditions for the canoes and rafts that anchored in the port here day and night; and it was also a structure that served as a defense during the pirate invasions of that time.

When the city had to grow and expand, a new layout was created and this would last until the present day. It is one of the few historical and outstanding elements that still survives despite the geographical
conditions and the devastating fires that marked the city. The current Malecón del Guayaquil has been built over a length of 2.5 km from Calle Cuenca in the south to the Las Peñas neighbourhood in the
north. The surface reaches approximately 21 hectares, tripling the space of the old malecón. Here you can find vegetation, pavements, benches, streetlights, pools and monuments from colonial times, as well as remains of the old docks that were used. A sample of the human intervention that has existed in this place throughout the centuries.

Hemicycle La Rotonda

La Rotonda reminds us that Guayaquil is a centre of secret and historical meetings. It commemorates the famous «Interview of Guayaquil», carried out on July 26, 1822, by the liberators Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín, a milestone in the history of the city, which in time became another of the representative engravings of the urban environment.

The work was directed by the Sociedad Constructora Nacional Fénix and was completed in 1929. The so-called marble Entrevista de Guayaquil was originally designed as a roundabout with an impressive collection of sculptures, but it was not effective for the course of traffic, which is why it was converted into a hemicycle.

In 1935 the Council awarded the work to the Spanish sculptor José Antonio Homs and the general conception of the architectural project was given to the sculptor Juan Rovira. In May 1938 the work was handed over. The site where the Hemicycle of La Rotonda is located was the place where the two figures met.

Anthropological Museum of Contemporary Art (MAAC)

The Anthropological and Contemporary Art Museum known as: MAAC, is to dedicate time to culture. The MAAC is part of the Centro Cultural Libertador Simón Bolívar, located north of the Malecón 2000. The
museum exhibits in its six rooms collections: archaeological, ethnographic, artistic and cultural about the people who inhabited the Ecuadorian coast.

In the 1950’s, archaeological research on the Ecuadorian coast achieved transcendental discoveries that transformed Ecuador into a crucial point
of archaeology in America. There are also temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art by
national and international artists. This art gallery highlights the combination of artistic stages that cover the history of Ecuador from 10,000 BC to the present. Today the collections have around 50,000
archaeological pieces and 3,000 works of art, as well as a valuable documentary collection.

The Cultural Centre also houses a library of national writers, video rooms, an auditorium and a large esplanade where there is space for artistic events, conferences and other cultural activities held in Guayaquil. From its beginnings the Anthropological Museum was formed in an active centre of scientific investigation, during three decades it contributed in the consolidation of the national identity: rescuing, conserving and spreading the cultural patrimony. Currently, MAAC is part of the National Museum Network of the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador.

Las Peñas Neighbourhood

On July 24, 1973, the Las Peñas neighbourhood of Santa Ana Hill was declared a Historical Monument of the City and in 1982, an Architectural Heritage of Ecuador.

This is the first residential neighbourhood that Guayaquil had, and it is the heart of where the city that we know today was born. Its houses, built in
wood, keep treasured histories from the foundation, the colonial time, until the current republican stage where presidents and other important characters of the history of the city and the country have emerged from this place.

Unfortunately, the Las Peñas neighbourhood was completely destroyed during the Great Fire of 1896. After this event it was rebuilt with a neoclassical style that can be seen when walking along Numa Pompillo
Llona street that ends in Puerto Santa Ana.

The Diego Noboa staircase is another option to visit this colourful hill of approximately 13.5 hectares. The staircase connects Plaza Mirador «El Fortín» with El Faro, the Chapel and Plaza de Honores. The lighthouse that is located at the top of Santa Ana Hill, is a recreation of the first lighthouse that existed in Ecuador, which was located in Santa Clara Island, in front of Punta de Piedra in the Gulf of Guayaquil in 1841.

santa ana port

Puerto Santa Ana is located under the slopes of Santa Ana hill, and since its inauguration in 2007, it has become an interesting space to visit in the city. This young combination of varied outdoor establishments bordering the river under the forge buildings is a local option with a varied local and international cuisine and an endless number of drinks.

However, the place is not only limited to a culinary and beverage space. It’s a natural environment accompanied by modern architecture, built in
what used to be a brewery company’s structures and that keeps its original shape. Plaza Pílsener is a lively element where cultural events take place and there are several museums, among which are: the Julio Jaramillo Lurido Museum of Popular Music, the Shipyard’s teams – local and national celebrities: Barcelona and Emelec, as well as the Beer Museum.
A place that allows you to learn about the history of a city and at the same time about modern Guayaquil in a friendly atmosphere and with a spectacular view of the river.