The first monastery in the Americas was built in 1556 on a hill overlooking the city. All that remains of the monastery today are remnants of limestone exterior walls and an impressive Plateresque entryway, above it the belt worn by the Franciscan order carved in the stone relief. From here, the monks proselytized and educated the [...]
This contributory river runs along the northern boundary of metropolitan Santo Domingo, rambling past the quiet, wooded hillside of Parque Mirador del Norte, the largest green space in the city. The river hosts small boat tours, and usually on weekends, a loosely formed guild of avid water skiers also committed to maintaining the eco-health of the [...]
This plaza in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady Santa Maria of the Incarnation is a crossroad of activity in the old city: the starting point for walking tours since guides congregate in this area (official tour guides prominently display ID badges over light blue tops and khaki bottoms); a taxi dispatch; and as an [...]
The guard in full military dress at the portal of this mausoleum stands watch over the remains of some of the country’s most eminent citizens. Among them: a beloved poetess, former presidents, freedom fighters and artists. Built between 1714 and 1745, the building was then the third home of the brotherhood of the Jesuit Order. The [...]
In spite of its name, Los Tres Ojos is actually four lakes inside an enormous subterranean cave predating Columbus’ arrival by several thousand years. Believed to have been a ritual well used by indigenous Indians, the cave was discovered by American explorers in 1916, but it would be several more decades before the Three Eyes would [...]
The Ozama Fortress and Tower of Tribute was constructed between 1503 and 1507 by the order of the first governor of Santo Domingo, Nicolás de Ovando. Perhaps the oldest stone edifice in the Colonial Zone, construction began after a devastating hurricane provoked the relocation of an entire settlement from the eastern side of Ozama River to [...]
The massive cross-shaped stone structure was built to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the New World, getting it's name from the 250 laser lights used to project a giant cross on the night sky. Inside, a museum displays exhibitions about Columbus from around the globe as well as paintings of the Virgin mother [...]
Construction on the first cathedral in the New World began in 1514 under the direction of Diego Columbus. But it would take three more decades and several architects before the prominent Bastidas family would take stewardship of the building, putting up their own money to see development through to the end. In 1586, the English buccaneer [...]
This impressive 16th-century building once housed the administrative powers of Spain’s colonial empire, whose influence reached as far as Mexico and Colombia. It was in this house that the judges of the Royal Audience plotted and intrigued against Christopher Columbus and his heirs, effectively cutting them out of any proceeds the Admiral felt entitled to for [...]
On the southeast corner of Plaza España stands the splendid palace built by Diego Columbus (son of Christopher Columbus), where he and his family resided from 1512 until they left the colony in 1523. It could be said that building of the house was the beginning of the undoing of Diego, who was not well liked [...]