A student at work in the carpentry workshop of the Escuela Taller Quito, which was established in 1992 to teach traditional construction techniques to underprivileged youngsters HEART AND SOUL Quito’s World Heritage-listed colonial centre is the largest in the Americas. And thanks to municipal intervention and the eff orts of a school for disadvantaged children, the Ecuadorian capital’s historic heart is being revitalised. Dominic Hamilton reports

rom the outside, the Escuela Taller Quito (Quito Workshop School) is deceiving. A two-storey mansion F set on one of the narrow streets in the Ecuadorian capital’s historic centre, it looks like a family home. Pass through its ornately carved doorway, however, and it’s another story. Pupils in blue overalls hurry between classrooms, criss-crossing the elegant patio in gaggles of three or four. A bell rings and a hush returns, although this, too, is deceptive. Enter one of the classrooms that ring the patio and you’re confronted with a hive of activity. The fi rst, adjacent to the entrance, is dedicated to carpentry. Inside, pupils are hard at work around half a dozen workbenches. Sketches and examples of completed works in marquetry and inlay decorate the walls. Sculptures at various stages of completion are scattered across the worktops, alongside tools of every size and function. There is a constant hum of knocking, carving, chipping, scraping and banging. The class is led by Maestro Carlos Vinicio Pazmiño, a tall, energetic man in his early 40s who passes from table to table surveying his pupils’ work. A room off to the right is quieter, bathed in studious silence. Here, Maestro Carlos advises a pupil on how to apply a wafer-thin sliver of gold leaf to a carved statue. Perhaps it’s the leaf’s value that makes everyone reverential, or perhaps it’s the image of the Virgin, pained by

the loss of her son, that’s responsible. Armando Salazar

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María González is 18 and in her of the New World’ today, since few says the city’s mayor, Paco Moncayo. second year at the school. Despite modern buildings blight the skyline From the 1960s onwards, the smart the male bias in her class, she seems of spires and church towers. money began to leave the restrictive grid completely at ease as she delicately Until recently, Bolívar would have felt of streets and the centre began a slow transfers another leaf to her statue on at home in the streets of the capital; decline. Mansions were split again and the tip of a paintbrush. ‘I wasn’t doing they felt more 18th than 21st century. again into smaller and cheaper units. very well at my last school and a friend The Saturday street market teemed like ‘The streets were impassable, health told me about the Taller,’ she says. ‘Once an ant nest. Stalls clogged either side of and hygiene impossible,’ Moncayo I visited, and saw how nice a place it was the chessboard-grid of thoroughfares. continues. ‘People were banging nails and all the things I could learn here, I Their blue awnings webbed the narrow into church columns to hang their applied at once.’ streets, knitted with strings and ropes awnings from. It was terrible to watch. The Escuela Taller takes in 60 students that connived to either trip you up or So something had to be done.’ aged 16–22 from disadvantaged garrotte you. In some areas, movement Today, just 20 years since the backgrounds every year. establishment of the It teaches a wide range FONSAL (Cultural Heritage of skills, from carpentry, Preservation Fund) and stonework, painting, 13 since the ECH (Historic gold leaf, metalwork and Centre Development electrics to basic maths and Corporation) was formed, language. The pupils receive the historical heart of Quito work clothes as a uniform is virtually unrecognisable. and get two meals a day. Churches have been The school’s aim is to rescued and restored. Streets train artisans in traditional have been reorganised construction techniques, with new lamp-posts and to promote the restoration, traffic-calming measures; rehabilitation and others have been conservation of Quito’s pedestrianised. Steel heritage, and to integrate signposts point to nearby young people into the tourist attractions. labour market. It runs an The old bylaw by agency to help its graduates which all houses had to find jobs that enjoys a 97 be whitewashed and their per cent success rate. balconies painted blue has This success is due in part also been relaxed. Within to the school’s excellent months, façades had turned training, but also to the fact peppermint green and there is such a lot of work powder pink. Even shop to be done. Quito’s historic signs have come under centre is the largest in the Americas. was all but impossible. And the control. Out went neon set at right- It spans no less than 320 hectares, set noise – everyone shouting their wares: angles to the houses and precarious between rolling hills and green-sloped ‘everything must go’, ‘sale now on’, ‘un plastic bolted to balconies; in came 3,000-metre Andean volcanoes. In 1978, dólar, un dólar’, ‘cómpreme aquí’. There sober metal lettering anchored to the the city became the first to be named a were as many people selling as shopping. shop’s front. It’s far more aesthetically World Heritage site by UNESCO, along No more. A combination of municipal pleasing, but not particularly helpful with Krakow in Poland. agencies, funded by local taxes and when you’re looking for an ATM. loans from foreign donors (the largest Mansions have been restored and Street life from the Inter-American Development cultural spaces opened up. The former Quito’s historic centre is laid out on Bank), have transformed the Old Town. Naval Archives, redolent with musty files a tight grid pattern, similar to that The street stalls have been dismantled, rotting contentedly, was transformed imposed by the Spanish in cities across the vendors moved on, the cobbles into the elegant Centro Cultural the Americas, from Mexico to Tierra scrubbed and swept. The city built Metropolitano, which includes a public del Fuego. Its network of streets is various indoor markets and relocated library. The Hospital of San Juan became home to 40 churches and chapels, most of the 10,000 comerciantes there. the excellent City Museum. The Neo- 16 convents and monasteries with Although there was resistance and Classical Teatro Sucre has been restored their respective cloisters, 17 plazas, scepticism, the move was carried out to its former glory, along with its nearby 12 chapter rooms and refectories, by consensus and without violence – cousin, the Variety Theatre. Part of the and countless courtyards. which isn’t as uncommon as one might Archbishop’s Palace, on one side of the The great liberator of northern South think in Latin America. handsome Plaza de la Independencia, The Jesuits’ church, La Compañia de Jesús, America, Simón Bolívar, called Quito ‘a ‘Through a combination of factors, now boasts a posh restaurant, called, in Quito’s centre. Under construction for monastery’ when he first entered with Quito’s Old Town, despite its past with a side-order of irony, Mea Culpa. more than 160 years, it’s laden with gold leaf his triumphant troops. And Bolívar grandeur and present heritage, had Inside two of the palace’s patios are

Giancarlo Ceraudo would recognise much of this ‘Florence become unworkable and unliveable,’ internet cafés, fast-food and modest

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Looking south over Plaza Grande (also known as Plaza de la Independencia), with the presidential palace to the right and the main cathedral ahead. Built immediately after the founding of Quito, the plaza remains the city’s spiritual heart

restaurants, shops and public toilets. Metropolitana de Turismo de Quito, one concept of heritage has been hijacked, Dance and music groups perform in of a number of corporations set up by whereby the very inhabitants of the the spaces on Friday nights. Mayor Moncayo. ‘Due to the city’s centre are pushed out and the so-called With the streets navigable once more, geography in the Andes, we’re never culture of the city is projected in a way indeed, with pavements superior to going to develop heavy industry or that doesn’t challenge the status quo.’ those in the wealthier parts of the city even a great amount of manufacturing. This critique of the city’s rebirth is of 1.8 million, the next step has been to By taking advantage of the incredible understandable given its history. Soon persuade Quiteños to return to the centre heritage that we do have, and the after the founding of the city as San to live and encourage businesses to ingenuity and diversity of the people Francisco de Quito in 1534, the invest. The ECH has launched more who make up our city and our region, Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians than two dozen housing projects in the we can hope to create jobs and and Carmelites moved in quickly to fi ll centre, ranging from modest yet modern long-term development.’ their churches with imagery that would family fl ats in small-scale blocks to larger The steady growth in tourism convey Christianity to the idolatrous properties for high-end housing. So far, numbers refl ects this optimism. masses. Inside their complexes, they the take-up rate has been very positive. Although the Galápagos Islands taught practical crafts alongside the Safety has been, and continues to be, are ’s main draw, both tour catechism. Although at fi rst most art key. There is a strong municipal police companies and tourists are now treating was imported from , such was the presence throughout the Old Town and Quito as more than just a stop-off on need to fi ll the churches and minds that CCTV cameras peer down from various their trip to the archipelago. home-grown production soon became intersections. The whole area was once more important. By the mid-17th effectively off-limits at night, but now Hijacked heritage century, the mix of indigenous and there is a sense of security that was This new era in Quito’s history isn’t Spanish styles had developed into the unthinkable only a few years ago. without its dissenters. At a recent so-called Quito School. Art historians Churches and squares are bathed in conference at the Ecuadorian branch emphasise the school’s bold colours and spotlights; restaurants and cafés are open of the Latin American Faculty of Social exuberant decoration, but to my mind, until 10pm, rather than 7pm; and it’s Sciences (FLACSO), the academic Mireya its greatest impact, and legacy, is gore. even possible to take romantic horse- Salgado questioned the top–down In Quito’s best colonial art collections drawn carriage rides around the cobbles. approach to the ‘rescuing’ of Quito’s you’ll encounter row after row of ‘Cultural tourism in Quito is the historic centre. ‘The redevelopment of crucifi ed Christs. Without detracting city’s greatest economic hope,’ claims the Old Town is for the benefi t of a few from all the Virgins, gold leaf,

Cristina de Miranda of the Corporación and not the many,’ she said. ‘The polychromatic statuary and suffering Giancarlo Ceraudo

74 www.geographical.co.uk AUGUST 2007 JULY 2006 www.geographical.co.uk 9 76 QUITO www.geographical.co.uk ironmongers, keycutters or vendors piled high with cloth, cobblers, lunches for US$2, haberdashers it’s restaurants serving three-course with some sort of commerce, whether Every ground floor locale is taken up interest is that it’s still very much alive. Atahualpa’s proud children. bequest to the ages; these are Sisyphus. This is the ’ under burdens that would have toppled men who struggle through the streets to clean your shoes. And it’s the Indian and filthy clothes, who run up and offer Indian descent, with burnished cheeks Indian. In the squares, it’s the boys of by the disfigured and the deformed, all Franciscan church are propped open The great doors of the twin-towered the Americas, Quito’s legacy is palpable. worked you to death. Just as you will be – just as soon as we’ve and treated like a dog. But He was saved. suffered like you: whipped and beaten in the New World, they said that Christ for you, say the Catholics in Europe. But Christ and themselves. Christ suffered indigenous peoples’ minds between also, I believe, to make the link in the the hearts and minds of the Indians, but weeping wounds. His pores and gouged His body with with knives, drew pools of blood from artists of the Quito School slashed Him congealed depictions of Christ. The Quito. I’ve never seen such blood- window across the centuries to colonial saints, it’s these crucifixions that open a chapel that isconnectedto thecatacombs beneath thecity, providing apotential route escape for thepresident The changingoftheguard at thepresidential palace. Located onthePlazadelaIndependencia,palace hasa Their intention was to bring fear to Part of the Old Town’s charm and Like all of the great colonial cities in AUGUST 2007 apt time to look back on the progress World Heritage list, it would seem an anniversary of its inscription on the for the best. invariably be told that they are in the Old Town and you’ll almost the average that only benefits corporations, ask some improbable Andean Disneyland the sake of appearance, of creating in prettifying the historical centre for It’s busy, cluttered, colourful. of the latest imports from Taiwan. With the city approaching the 30th Although there is a risk inherent time is typically around 15–17 hours. , Amsterdam or the USA. The flight and Ecuador, with most flights routed via There are no direct flights between the UK Getting there June–September. of 2,800 metres. The driest time of year is all four seasons in one day due to its altitude no seasons as such, but you can experience (average daily maximum of 19°C) – there are temperature is the same year-round Lying just south of the Equator, Quito’s When to go Quiteño about the changes

in the Old Town. Mindalae Museum and on the Plaza Grande international arrivals at the airport, in the experiencequito.com) has offices at the than 90 days. Ecuador as long as they are staying for less UK citizens don’t need a visa to enter informationFurther the area’s physical–spatial problems: the 1980s have dealt primarily with The agencies created and financed since made and decide on the road ahead. progressive centre in this great capital. involvement to create an inclusive and The great challenge now is to direct that increasing interest and involvement. And with growing pride has come has reignited the pride of its citizens. unhygienic chaos. of life, or bringing some order to the collapse, giving old buildings new leases buttressing churches on the point of The Quito Visitors’ Bureau (www. With these great works, the city

ECUADOR Co-ordinates G

Giancarlo Ceraudo; Armando Salazar