The Cathedral Plaza

Uneventful during most of the day, except for the occasional visit of tourists who use its gazebo as a picture background, the Old Quarter's Cathedral Plaza has witnessed some of the most important events in the nation's history.

Built in the late 17th century, what was then known as the Plaza Mayor was the center of activity of the new city of Panama, which replaced the old city, plundered and sacked by Sir Henry Morgan in 1671.

Facing the mother-of-pearl towers of the Metropolitan Cathedral, the plaza was where the colonial residents of the district of San Felipe gathered to celebrate the coronation of the kings of Spain, bullfights and pompous town balls.

Standing on the steps of the Cathedral, on November 28, 1821, a group of prominent gentlemen summoned the public to declare that Panama was no longer a Spanish colony. Eighty-two years later, on November 3 1903, the city's residents were summoned once again to hear José Agustin Arango declare the country's independence from Colombia.

The plaza on which the declaration of independence from Spain was read looked considerably different from that on which Mr. Arango stood in 1903. What was an ample, empty space in the early 19th century was embellished with palm trees, benches and gazebos when the French arrived to start their ill-fated attempt to build a sea-level Canal through Panama in the 1880's. From then, until the first half of the 20th century, it was a popular courting venue, where society ladies, accompanied by chaperones, met their beaux on Sunday afternoons.