< strong > Plaza de France will have an integral restoration < / strong >

With the presence of representatives of the United Nations Programme (UNDP), the Ambassador of Panama to the UNESCO, Elia Guerra, members of French Embassy in Panama and officials of the San Felipe Communal Board, Office of the Casco Antiguo (OCA) and of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Ministry of Culture (MiCultura), Minister Giselle González Villarrué received Research, design and development of plans for the restoration and valuation of the Plaza de France and the Colonial Wall of the Punta de Chiriquí.

The project that forms part of the recovery of public spaces to put them into value within the Casco Antiguo will start with the first quarter of 2024 and will have five phases among them: The maintenance of the base of the colonial wall, the restoration of the hemicycle, façade and vaults, slabs and ground of Paseo Esteban Huertas, the restoration of the wall and the construction of new pavements.

For the restoration of this site that forms part of the Monument Set Casco Antiguo and whose wall dates back to 1686, a budget of B /, 5, 969,802.85 has been estimated and distributed over a period of two and a half years.

At the beginning of August the OCA gave up to the company Duran & Garcica-A3 architects The order to conduct for studies for the complete restoration of the Plaza de France, located at the San Felipe, Casco Antiguo correction.

"From the ministry we have been committed to the nation's heritage, leaving a legacy from art and culture, we have regained this square, a latent heart, a place of convergence where visitors share ideas and experiences," said Giselle González Villarrué, Minister of Culture.

"That restoration would be given to UNESCO as part of the advances that the Panamanian State is acquiring with the proposal of the Colonial Route, it became an asset for the country, a legacy for the Casco Antiguo, but especially for our town," added González Villarrué.

To the company, the head of the cultural portfolio told them to "note that it's our story, a piece of us, of the Panamanian and that's what we entrust them with, and that's the work we entrust them with, and that's not only the recovery of a square but the intangible arteries that are inside that square."

"We have currently been registered with the UNESCO's list of the World Heritage of the UNESCO on 6 November, we have registered with the UNESCO the program of the Cultural and Ecological Festival of the sea turtles of Armila with the list of best practices of the Safeguard and we are currently working to register with the UNESCO The Transitory Colonial Route," noted Yessenia Sánchez, director of the office of the Casco AntiguoQ.