Zona Colonial

Your visit to the Dominican Republic will not be complete without a visit to the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo. This walled city that is considered the cradle of America, is the richest of the Caribbean in architecture and memories of the colonial age: Impressive, very well preserved monuments, fortresses and churches where the floor tiles and the stones reign, secret alleys, houses of red coral stone where life blended together around the so-called Spanish patio, adorned with fountains, plants and ceramic tiles, proof of the presence of the Arabian culture in Spain in those days, make of this district a wonderful trip into the past.

The city of Santo Domingo keeps the exact dates of its origin a mystery. History tells us that it was founded at the end of the 15th century on the eastern bank of the Ozama river, completely destructed by a hurricane and built again by Governor Nicolas de Ovando at the far opposite of the same river.  Historic documents date the second foundation of the city on the 5th of august 1502,  so that the primitive Spanish settlements on the island, La Isabela, Santiago, La Vega and Bonao came first.

From here Ponce de León left for the island of Puerto Rico. Diego de Velásquez sailed from this port heading west to colonize Cuba. Hernán Cortés started his conquest of Montezuma and Mexico at the Ozama river. Vasco Núñez de Balboa, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean, stayed in its walls. Christopher Columbus set foot on Dominican soil more than once during his voyages discovering the New World.

It is no wonder that the UNESCO declared Santo Domingo a Heritage of Mankind. The city shelters more than 300 historic monuments, silent witnesses of the coming and going of the busy Spaniards, walking its streets in the sixteenth century. 

A look in the past.
Some places not to be missed in your trip are: the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, the First Cathedral of America, the Alcazar of Columbus, the remnants of  San Francisco, the ruins of the Nicolás de Bari hospital, the House of the String, the Ozama Fortress, the Museum of the Royal Houses, the Mausoleum of the Prominent and the Street of the Ladies.

This city was made for pedestrians, with its irresistible network of hidden avenues and narrow corridors specially made for conquerors and cardinals. Don’t forget to explore them when you visit the important monuments. 

We advise you to start your tour at the Gate of San Diego, one of the main entrances to the fortified city, where you can see remains of the huge walls. After arriving at the gate, then look at the Alcazar. This mansion with 22 rooms served as the home of Diego Columbus and his wife, Doña Maria de Toledo. Diego, titled Viceroy of the New World, governed the Spanish court from its ornamented porches. The majestic building shows traces of gothic and Islamic style with touches of Italian and Spanish renaissance. It contains one of the most splendid collections of furniture and house ware of that age.

The Zona Colonial has several plazas, but there is one that deserves a special mention: the Plaza de Armas. It lies opposite the Cathedral and is the meeting place for the inhabitants.  Here you see couples stroll hand in hand and children running at free will.  Nearby you find the famous Calle Las Damas, the oldest of the city and the heart of the Zona Colonial.

The next stop is the Museum of the Casas Reales, during more than 300 year the seat of the colonial administration. Here they took the important decisions over the colonization of the New World, from Columbia to Florida. The museum shows artefacts of the 16th century, including replicas of the throne of the viceroy and of a room of the colonial tribunal.
La Fortaleza Ozama lies almost at the end of the Calle Las Damas. It is the oldest military monument of the colonies and it still watches over the entrance to the city, the Ozama river and the Caribbean. The structure served as fortress and prison from 1505 until 1844. Today the tourists can enter the Tower of Tribute and follow the footsteps of the sentinels that watched the horizon looking for enemy frigates. Close by stands the Casa de Bastidas, the historic house of Rodrigo de Bastidas, patriarch of one of the most influential families of the New World and governor of Santo Domingo. His mansion is an excellent example of a colonial residence of the 16th century. Today it houses the offices of several cultural institutes and arts and crafts shops.

If you follow the Calle Las Damas you will run into the pedestrian passage El Conde. After two blocks in western direction you find the Parque Colón and the impressive Cathedral de Santa María la Menor, the first of America. Its façade is made out of limestone and gilded coral and it confines a gothic interior, a beautiful example of Spanish renaissance architecture with baroque touches. Unfortunately was its past not so wonderful. In 1586 Sir Francis Drake attacked Santo Domingo during his unbridled plundering of the Caribbean. He set fire to the cathedral and robbed it of many of its treasures, including the windows. Only in 1990 they restored it and they placed new windows. These were a creation of Rincón Mora, a contemporary Dominican artist who designed modern hand carving in caoba wood to complete the altar from the 18th century, the silver bells made by the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini in the 16th century and the oil painting of the Spanish artist Bartolomé Murillo that dates from the 17th century.

Grandeur and decadence, splendour and misery, all this takes shape and lives again from the old stones of the city  that stay on as witness and proof, as memory and teaching.