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.
Admire mysterious creatures like the armies of
marine iguanas, flightless cormorants birds in Galapagos Islands
