Panama has inaugurated a visitors’ center to improve access to a colonial-era fort that due to neglect came to be placed on a UNESCO list of sites at risk.

San Lorenzo Fort on the country’s northern coast was built in the late 16th century to defend the mouth of the Chagres River at a time when the isthmus was a transit route for gold shipments from South America to the Spanish crown.

Juan Carlos Croston is president of the Portobelo and San Lorenzo Patronage. He says “there is more than 500 years of history here” and the site has “enormous potential as a tourist destination.”

Panama Canal authorities committed during a ceremony Friday to supporting enhancement and rehabilitation of the fort along with environmental, community development and education projects.