PANAMÁ - By Emarg

Quick City Overview: Panama









Province/District: Panamá
City: Panamá
Place: Quick City Overview






Panama is probably the biggest point of the Americas where you may see that the South begins to lose relevance and, at the same time, the North begins to be more present on the culture, like in most of the other countries of Central America. Most of the colonial and contemporary history of the country passed through its capital, since the Spanish Empire conquered the land and founded the city, the reconstruction of the 17th Century, the militarization by the US on the area of the Canal for strategic purposes in the times of the World War 2, to the new search of national identity after the Canal was officially returned to Panama in 1999. Though it has gorgeous views of the Pacific Ocean and a humid/hot weather all the year, Panama City doesn’t have beaches. On the contrary, its strong is that it became a financial core of the world, specially from Latin America, with the main headquarters of several multinational companies who chose to be there due to advantages on the tax policies. The result of all this can be clearly seen on the large skyline of modern skyscrapers. It’s also growing very fast on the last years and probably on the next years to come, with huge examples such as the area of the new Trump Hotel and the new urbanization of Costa del Este, among others.

Panama Canal









Province/District: Panama
City: Panama
Place: Panama Canal





The Panama Canal is one of the biggest accomplishments of the Engineering of the 20th Century. Since it was built in 1914, it drastically changed the paradigm of the world maritime trasde. The ships who sailed from the european countries who had coasts on the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea no longer had to surround Africa, Asia or even the Americas through the North Pole or the Bering Strait. It’s also interesting to see that Nicaragua always was the competitor of the Panama Canal, but who also somehow failed at being the other main door between both oceans, even now that a new Canal is currently being built there since 2014. At the beginning of the 20th Century, with Panama as a new sovereign republic, the Canal was then part of the US soil, who kept it as a strategic point for military purposes and who paradoxically didn’t manage to exploit the full commercial potential of the Canal itself. That quickly changed when they officially gave it to Panama in 1999. Interestingly enough, the old american architecture was now turned into to college campuses and technological poles.

Panama: Casco Viejo









Province/District: Panamá
City: Panama
Place: Casco Viejo





The Casco Antiguo of Panama is probably the best preserved historical district of Latin America and specially of the early spanish colonial period on the Caribbean. The current place was built after the pirate Henry Morgan looted the old city, who still has some ruins just a few kilometers away. The main meeting point of the district is the Plaza Mayor, who is surrounded by the Metropolitan Cathedral of Panama and the Municipal Theatre. The other relevant place of the district are the ruins of the Convento de Santo Domingo. It’s interesting to see that a bridge surrounds the Casco Viejo. That was a very original solution to the challenge of connection of both extremes of the city, who has a natural and urban wall with the Cerro Ancón (mountain) and the Casco Viejo itself.

Panamá: Skyscrapers of Panamá









Province/Distrit: Panamá
City: Panamá
Place: Skyscrapers of Panamá





Though Panama is regionally acknowledged for its skyline, most of the skyscrapers who shape that siluet were built during the last two decades. With modern and post-modern styles, some of them even are part of the futuristic architecture, like the strange case of the F&F Tower, called “El Tornillo” (or The Screw) by the people of the city. Without getting to the extravagance of Dubai or the capitals of the Middle East, the skyscrapers of Panama usually have sober shapes, simple lines and light blue courtain walls in their designs, mostly standing out thanks to the high height. Some cases like the Global Bank Tower experiment with different colours (in this case, the golden colour). Other examples, like the Tower Financial Center or the Oceania Business Plaza, two huge complexs of beautiful dark-glass skins. However, the tallest tower of Panama (and the second one of Latin America) is the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower, nowadays famous for obvious reasons, who became an important place for the tourists who visit the city.

















Trump Tower & Hotel:











Star Bay Tower:














F&F Tower (El Tornillo):














Global Bank Tower:

Allure at the Park:








Q Tower:








Mirage Panamá:








Torres Miramar:







Oceania Business Plaza:

Towerbank Financial Center:











Soho Mall & Plaza:











Megápolis:

















Y una final del skyline al atardecer: