Guided Tour in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo

The Museum of the Royal Houses or Royal Palaces, as it was called during the time of the captaincy general and the province, had two palaces as its headquarters, which date back to the 16th century. This royal palace was built by order of the Crown of Castile, in the reign of Fernando II of Aragon, on October 5, 1511, in order to house the main government offices of the time.

The architecture of the building of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo is characterized by a Gothic style with ribbed vaults, solid walls and three doors, two of them Gothic in contrast to the third and main Gothic Plateresque style. The cathedral contains a vast artistic treasure made up of altarpieces, paintings (including a panel of the Virgen de la Altagracia dated 1523), old cabinetry, furniture, monuments and tombstones, among other objects. The mausoleums of the archbishops of the colonial period stand out, it is also worth mentioning the tombstone of Simón Bolívar, one of the predecessors of the Liberator.

The Santo Domingo Fortress or Ozama Fortress is one of the historical Cultural Monuments of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. It was built by the Spanish during the colonial era and is the oldest fort in America.

The Casa de Tostado Museum owes its name to its first owner, Francisco Tostado de la Peña, notary public of the governor. On the façade you can see a twin window in Elizabethan Gothic style, unique in America.

Las Damas Street was the first street in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic and America. Located in the Colonial City, it owes its name to the fact that at the beginning of the colony the ladies walked down that street, which is currently decorated with colonial tiles. This street has as attractions Ozama Fortress, La Real Audiencia, the house of Don Rodrigo de Bastidas (today the "Trampolín" children's museum), colonial houses (some with colonial coats of arms) and at the end Plaza España.

Calle El Conde is the only pedestrian street in the capital city of the Dominican Republic and the commercial center of the Colonial Zone. Calle el Conde Santo DomingoThis one-kilometer-long road is located between Parque Independencia and Avenida Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó, and given its historic buildings it is one of the most visited tourist places in Santo Domingo.

Parque Colón is one of the historic parks or plazas of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo, which served as the main party center in colonial-era society. Parque Colón is currently used as the main center for cultural activities and is also part of the Santo Domingo World Heritage Site.

The Dominican Church and Convent. It is the oldest Catholic building in the American Continent, being the first in the New World and in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Today it is part of the Colonial Zone as a whole, as a World Heritage Site. In 1534 the convent began its classes, and in 1538 it became the first university in America, which was called the University of Santo Tomás de Aquino and later the Primate University of America, which today we know as the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. (UASD).

Visiting the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo you can find all the most important historical monuments of the Dominican Republic, among which is the Panteón Nacional or Panteón de la Patria, the mausoleum that houses the physical remains of the greatest Dominican heroes. Located on Calle Las Damas, almost at the corner of Calle Las Mercedes, this enormous gray limestone building has three naves and a neoclassical-Renaissance style.

The Hospital San Nicolás de Bari was the first hospital in America. Its construction began in 1503 in Santo Domingo, capital of Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic. It was founded by Nicolás de Ovando, who was governor of the island at the time. Today only ruins remain and it is currently located in the Colonial City or Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo; on Hostos street, corner of Luperón street.

The Alcázar de Colón or Viceroyalty Palace of Don Diego Colón is a palace from the beginning of the 16th century, located in the Plaza de España in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). This construction was built on a site near the cliffs that look towards the Ozama River; granted to Diego Columbus, eldest son of the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus, by King Ferdinand the Catholic, to build a home for him and his offspring on the island of Hispaniola, which he arrived in 1509 as governor and where the Alcázar de Colón Museum currently operates.

The Rum and Cane Museum, located in the colonial zone, historic center of Santo Domingo and is an interactive museum that tells the history of Dominican rum.