Casco Antiguo/San Felipe, Panamá — Huellas de Suman Footprints

The San Felipe neighborhood in Panama City (Casco Viejo or Casco Antiguo) is the living historical heart of Panama City. After Pirate Henry Morgan sacked and burned Panama Viejo in 1671, the city moved to a more defensible peninsula that today is San Felipe. It was a walled colonial city with the elite residing inside the walls. By the beginning of the 20th Century the city had expanded eastward along the coast and elites gradually moved to Exposición, Bella Vista, Paitilla, and today Costa del Este. Housing and buildings in San Felipe fell into disrepair as single family mansions were divided into apartments and later occupied by squatters. The neighborhood remained the symbolic government, religious, and cultural center of Panama and housed structures such as the Presidential Palace, National Theater, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Relations, at least 5 historical churches, the Municipal Council Chambers, among others. In 1997, UNESCO inscribed San Felipe as a Cultural World Heritage Site. However, architectural restoration has been slow - beginning in the 1970s with legislation that attempted to protect cultural monuments and incentivize restoration - and has accelerated significantly in recent years. At the same time, the neighborhood has experienced gentrification and the population has decreased by 80% as low income residents have been squeezed out and property values have soared.