The restoration of the Forts of San Jerónimo and San Lorenzo, in addition to the construction of a visitor center, are some of the projects under development to underpin “the great cultural and tourist potential” of the Fortifications of the Caribbean Coast of Panama, a World Heritage Site since 1980.

These strong, magnificent prototypes of military architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, have been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2012. The Ministry of Culture executes a program with funds from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to achieve the desired state of conservation.

The fortifications are subject both to emergency interventions recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and to projects that seek their sustainability, the executive director and one of the founders of the Board of Trusteship of Portobelo.

The authorities of Panama have understood the “importance of the recovery” of these archaeological sites given their “great potential from the cultural and tourist point of view,” said Quijano.

The Fortifications of the Caribbean Coast are part, along with the Archaeological Site of Old Panama and the Historical District of Panama (World Heritage since 1997) and the colonial roads that unite them: the

This cultural and tourist value on the part of the State, said Quijano, who recalled that the board of trustees he directs is involved in this project, which highlights the role of Panama in the history of the world since its genesis.

RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION

“The largest project that we are currently carrying out with the Ministry of Culture is the first phase of the restoration of the castle of San Lorenzo Real de Chagres, whose investment is close to 5 million dollars,” said Quijano.

This project in San Lorenzo, one of the oldest Spanish fortresses in America and located on a cliff, has been developed since 2020 in three phases of a museum in three of the vaults of the fortress, among others.

In the place you can see underpinning or installation of wooden beams with screws to hold walls, which have been subjected to special cleanings so that they recover their color.

In the forts of San Jerónimo and Santiago “maintenance and consolidation work” are done and this year some of “rearrowing

walls of the reduary, restoration of the Polvorín and the vault of the redoubt and the construction of breakwaters for the protection of the ravages of the sea, among others.

Quijano added that the restoration of the Customs of Portobelo “is almost finished,” while they are already in the hands of the Ministry of Culture “all the plans so that the restoration

Lorenzo, a project that should be ready for next summer, that is, at the beginning of 2024, Quijano said.

The combination of cultural and natural heritage offered by both San Lorenzo and Portobelo is of great value for sustainable tourism development,” Quijano said.