PANAMA CITY’S MAGNIFICENT CASCO ANTIGUO

“World heritage cities should be places where people live, work and enjoy their spare time.  They’re not museums”   U.N.E.S.C.O.’s

World Heritage Sites Administration Guide

Casco Antiguo or Casco Viejo is a charming city within a city, reminiscent of New Orleans, old San Juan, Puerto Rico and Cartagena, Colombia, amongst others. 

Undergoing a major facelift, it offers a unique setting sandwiched between the Panama Canal and ultramodern Panama City. 

When the Casco Antiguo quarter reconstruction is rendered, it will be unique in the world.  Many savvy investors are flocking here in search of  buildings to restore, hotels to remodel or looking to operate the chic boutiques, inns and bistros that will differentiate the area.  Others are just looking for a unique place to live in the tropics, in a diminutive version of Florence or Paris, mixed with the gusto of Havana and Madrid.   

The government of Panama recently enacted legislation that allows for generous incentives to investors and residents, such as a 30-year homeowner’s tax exemption, subsidized construction, remodeling and mortgage interest rates, duty-free importation of construction materials and sales tax/personal income tax exemptions on remodeled structures sales and rentals.  For details on this legislation, please review the NEWS & INFO section of this website.

When walking through the streets of Casco Antiguo, you can enjoy a gelato at Grand Clement ice cream parlor, opened by recent Paris immigrants , Monsieur et Madame Alex de Beaulieu.  You may want to savor the potages at Manolo Caracol Restaurant, owned by a Spanish chef who provides a blend of tropical and European fares, or simply taste a mojito or Cuba Libre at one of the local jazz bars or cantinas.  Lest not forget the museums and Teatro Nacional's plays and operas. 

Among other unique features to the quarter, a cable car transportation system, similar to California’s celebrated trolley car system in San Francisco, is in the bidding process.  

A BIT OF HISTORY

Old Panama City was abandoned after it was sacked and pillaged by Henry Morgan, the pirate.  Casco Antiguo, the new city, was founded on January 23rd, 1673.  Its inhabitants adjusted from living in an open 120-acres citadel to a smaller 40-acres enclosed city.

Located on the Pacific entry to the Panama Canal, Casco Antiguo boasts a layout that documents the transfer of XVIIth century urban planning from Europe to the Americas.

Neither the years nor centuries of reforms have substantially modified its unique blueprint.  Spanish, French and local colonial architectural styles coexist in its streets.  Among others, the Bolivar Chamber enjoys an exceptional historical importance in that it witnessed Simon Bolivar’s vision of the creation, in 1826, of a pan-American forum, more than a century prior to the creation of an institution of this nature.

In 1997, based on criteria (ii) (iv) (vi), UNESCO appointed the Historical Joint Monument of the city of Panama as World Heritage. 

For additional information on Casco Antiguo, please review the Casco Antiguo Office (OCA) website at  www.cascoantiguo.gob.pa

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