El Panecillo
This natural elevation was baptized thus by its similarity with a small bread, it is elevated in the middle of the city like a natural viewpoint from which it is appraised the Andean beauty of the zone and the urban disposition of the city.
The knoll received its qualifying one of the Spanish conquerors, but it thinks that its authentic name is "Shungoloma" that in quichua means "hill of the heart". At the preincaica time a temple dedicated to the cult of the God was elevated on him Sun, Yavirac call, which was destroyed by the Rumiñahui Indian while it resisted with his troops to the Spanish advance.
The hill of the Panecillo, with three thousand meters of altitude on the level of the sea, is a reference for the inhabitants of Quito because it marks the division between the south and downtown and still maintains the legacy of the incaica time because is there the Pot of the Roll, a circular species of cistern of eight meters of depth that was used for the irrigation of sowings.
Years later, during the Spanish domination, the place served to collect water rain destined to the irrigation of the gardens of the Spanish mansion Bellavista and soon site of defense of the colonial troops during the libertarian battle of Pichincha was used as the 24 of May of 1 822.
In 1976, the Spanish artist Agustín of the Herrán Matorras made in aluminum the monument to the Virgin Maria who is in the peak of the hill. He is made up of seven thousand pieces and is considered like the greater aluminum representation of the world. The work, is an retort of the sculpture of thirty centimeters made in century XVIII by the Bernardine Quito sculptor of Legarda, that rests in the baroque convent of the Church of San Francisco. In the inferior part of the monument to the Virgin, the vestibule of the Pot can be appreciated that opens the access small square to the viewpoint and that comprises of the footpath which the visitors use to appreciate the city and its surroundings.
In order to raise until the viewpoint foot, it can use one of the most important accesses that it divides from the street Brown Garcia or, if one is in a vehicle, can advance using the avenue Melchor Aymerich, unique route which it connects it with the cupola.
In the Roll, you can breathe the Andean air that inspired to illustrious poets and to enjoy the Vista of the placid colonial city that is lost between the complicated modern architecture.