CUENCA

Cuenca, officially Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca is a city in south central Ecuador and is the capital of the province of Azuay and Region 6. Located in the southern part of the Ecuadorian Andean Cordillera. Its historic center

Cuenca It's called the Athens of Ecuador for its majestic architecture, its cultural diversity, its contribution to the arts, sciences and letters Ecuadorian and being the birthplace of many famous people of Ecuadorian society.

The town was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on December 1, 1999 and in the city center there are important historical remains: museums and old churches (such as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, one of the largest America, and others dating from the XVI and XVII), cobbled streets and houses with facades that show Republican European architectural influences, especially Spanish and French. Are characteristic balconies, carved ceilings and other artistically painted forged brass.

The city is also known as the "Athens of Ecuador" for being the home of several poets and historical figures as Miguel Velez, Gaspar Sangurima, Santo Hermano Miguel, Honorato Vasquez, Remigio Crespo Toral, Garaicoa Abdon Calderon, Antonio Borrero and others. In Cuenca is home to numerous cultural organization.

Cuencanos come from a rich ethnic heritage made ​​up of peoples as the Canaris and Incas, as well as others who arrived during the colonization of America as they are mainly Spanish, but also, in a much smaller amount of African descent. This mixture combined with the climate and geographical location of the city makes the inhabitants of the city very special people.

The typical character of the city is also born of this mixture, called "Chola Cuenca", once it was the rural women engaged in farming, but is now also commonly seen in the city, and is the product of miscegenation between indigenous the region and the Spanish.




Ingapirca. Ancient Inka ruins

In the province of Cañar to 3120 m, and 16km of Canar stands the most important archaeological construction of Ecuador, Inca origin. It is an observation of the sun and moon.

Ingapirka is a Quechua word meaning Inca Wall. It is an authentic Incan construction, although this name was used to designate various pre-Hispanic ruins, without necessarily having to do originally with the Inca culture.

The ensemble of archaeological Ingapirca, is known since the mid-eighteenth century, and at Canar Valley found in these rooms, it was called in the sixteenth century as a province of Canar Hatun (Quechua: Hatun Kanar).

Fray Gaspar de Gallegos, pastor of San Francisco Pueleusi Quicksilver, wrote in 1582:

"It's usually called Kannada, because three leagues from here is a village called Hatum Cañar meaning in the Inca language" The largest province of cañares "and say there time Guaynacaba Inca (Huayna Capac) had large populations of Indians and there was the head of these cañares principal, and so it seems, because in today's large and very magnificent buildings, and among them a very strong tower ... "