Quito
Quito: Historic Centre and the Basílica del Voto Nacional
July 2004
Quito, Ecuador’s capital, extends through a high Andean valley on the slopes of Pichincha volcano. The city’s historic centre stands approximately 9,350 feet (2,850 meters) above sea level.
Spanish colonists established San Francisco de Quito in 1534 on the remains of an Inca city, within an area that had been inhabited by Indigenous communities before the Inca expansion. The surviving historic centre contains churches, monasteries, plazas and residential buildings shaped by Spanish colonial planning and the work of Indigenous and mestizo artists and craftspeople.
The City of Quito was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. UNESCO recognizes it as one of the largest and best-preserved historic centres in Spanish America, despite earthquakes and later urban development. The photographs from 2004 document its churches, dense hillside neighbourhoods, commercial streets, markets and everyday urban life.
Among Quito’s most prominent landmarks is the Basílica del Voto Nacional, a Roman Catholic church constructed in the neo-Gothic style. Work began in the late nineteenth century, and its foundation stone was laid in 1892. Distinctive Ecuadorian elements include stained glass incorporating native plants and architectural grotesques modelled on animals associated with the country, replacing some of the mythical creatures commonly found on European Gothic churches.
