Flat Arch

Located in Panama City's Old Quarter, the Flat Arch was part of one of the first convents and universities in what was then the "new" city of Panama (The Old Panama was destroyed during an attack by Sir Henry Morgan in 1671.) The building was abandoned in the 18th century, but the arch, which served as one of its beams, withstood the elements and the natural decay process for two more centuries ?the evidence needed by the U.S. Congress to approve the Panama Canal route, as it proved the absence of major earthquakes on the Isthmus of Panama (Panama's closest competitor for the canal in those days, Nicaragua, is a territory prone to earquakes and volcanic activity. A major error was made by the Nicaraguan government when it issued a mail stamp depicting a train running between the country's numerous volcanoes just as the U.S. Congress was about to chose between the two routes.

Perhaps due to the constant vibrations caused by motor vehicles throughout the 20th century, the Flat Arch collapsed on November 7, 2003, four days after the country's centennial as an independent republic. The Old Quarter and the Old Panama ruins were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.