Colonial cities preserve layers of power, faith, trade and adaptation. This selection links historic centres, churches, ports and fortifications across Latin America, showing how inherited buildings and urban spaces became part of changing local identities.
Art and Culture
From the gilded nave of Quito to the carved stone of Potosí, South America's grandest colonial churches concentrate along the Andes — with one dazzling exception on the Atlantic…
Chile
Chile's great Pacific port grew rich on ships rounding Cape Horn, then lost its reason to exist. The story everyone tells blames the Panama Canal. The record is messier and more…
Guatemala
For 230 years it was the capital of Spanish Central America and, by contemporary reckoning, second in splendour only to Mexico City. Then earthquakes gave the Crown the excuse it…
Puerto Rico
Founded in 1521 on a rocky islet, Old San Juan is the oldest European-founded city in United States territory and one of the great fortified ports of the Atlantic world. Its walls…
Colombia
Explore the secrets of the San Felipe de Barajas Castle, a Spanish military engineering masterpiece in Cartagena, Colombia, and its pivotal role in colonial history.
Peru
Under the gaze of several volcanoes, such as Misti, the historic center of Arequipa shines with its white ashlar walls, centuries-old convents and squares full of history. A UNESCO…
Peru
Lima’s historic center blends viceregal grandeur with republican landmarks—plazas, balconies, and cathedrals shaped by earthquakes and renewal.
