• 1678 – First built, but a victim of several fires, which collapsed the tower and the interior, and never rebuilt
  • Church had walls of masonry but roof and interior all wood
  • 1981 – restored from a rental house
  • Cloister had been used as a bus station
  • Famous for the 50ft long Arco Chato / Flat Arch
  • There is no keystone
  • Logic reasoned that if this brick arch could withstand nearly 200 years with no visible means of support, then there was no real threat to constructing a lock-style canal

In 2003, after years of neglect, fireworks celebrating Panama’s Centennial helped bring down most of what was left of the arch. Multiple engineers and architects were unable to rebuild the arch the way the friars had, and ultimately reconstructed it with a supporting core running through it.

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Next: Museo de Arte Religioso Colonial