Page 71 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

Former Canal Zone Panama City 69
(1.5km) & Miraflores Locks (200m), Albrook bus terminal (300m), Albrook metro station (350m) 1
Río Curundú Albrook Tribunal 0 metres 250
Electoral
CORREDOR NORTE A V G A I L L A R D
Airport
STRI
N Earl S. Tupper
Research and
Conference Centre
Palacio
AV O MA R T O R R I J O S
AV AN C Ó N Legislativo
ANCÓN GORGA S R O A D
Corte Suprema
Edificio de la de Justicia
Administración Museo de Arte
Balboa del Canal de Panamá Gorgas Contemporáneo
Container Port Centro de Capacitación Hospital
Ascanio Arosemena
Panama Goethals
Monument
Canal
QUARRY ANCON
ACCOMMODATION AV ROOSEVELT EL PRADO HEIGHTS C A L LE B
The Balboa Inn 2 STEVENS C JULIO A SOSA
Country Inn & Suites 5 Teatro CIRCLE AV MORGAN Mi
GM Lodge 1 Balboa CALLE CRUCES Cerro Ancón Pueblito
(199m)
Hostal Amador Familiar 4 BALBOA AV D E LO S M Á R T I R E S C ALLE 18 OESTE
Hostel Casa Nativa 3 Balboa
Union Church
SHOPPING Bank
Albrook Mall 1 AV A R N U L F O A . M A D R I D EL CHORILLO
& ATM
STRI Earl S. Tupper CALLE LA BO C A AV M ORGAN EATING
Research Centre 2 Country Store 1 2 Casco Viejo
The Woodhouse
CERRO ANCÓN CALLE PLANK DRINKING
CA L L E A KEE
AND BALBOA CALLE EMPIRE Balboa Yacht Club 1 2
Kayuco
AVENIDA AMADOR
(1 km), (1.2km), (6.5km), Amador Causeway & Bridge of the Americas
café-restaurant on the pseudo-Spanish colonial square, whose fresh fruit juices aid
recovery from any physical exertion on the hill.
Edificio de la Administración del Canal de Panamá
Western slope of Cerro Ancón • No hours; tell the security guard that you want to see the “murales” – you may have to present ID
The stately Edificio de la Administración del Canal de Panamá (Canal Administration
Building), which dominates the hill’s western slope, houses four arresting murals that
celebrate in graphic detail the Herculean achievement of building the Canal.
Decorating an elegant domed marble rotunda, just inside the main entrance, they were
painted by New York artist William Van Ingen, known for his work in the Library of
Congress in Washington DC. A series of evocative lithographs adorn the outer walls of
the rotunda.
Balboa
West of Cerro Ancón lies the district of BALBOA, whose centre, El Prado, is a
palm-lined grassy rectangle measured to match the length and width of an original
lock chamber. El Prado extends from the Goethals Monument at the foot of the
administration building steps to Stevens Circle at the far end, by the main road.
When George Goethals took over as chief engineer of the Canal in 1907, he surveyed
all that his predecessor, John Stevens, had achieved and prophetically wrote to his
son, “Mr Stevens has done an amount of work for which he will never get any credit,
or if he gets any, will not get enough”. Nowhere is this more evident than in the
monuments to their labours: while Stevens Circle consists of a small and rather
neglected memorial down the far end of the Prado, the cream marble Goethals
Monument monolith stands tall at the foot of the Canal Authority’s seat of power,
with water cascading over three stepped marble platforms – symbolizing the three
sets of locks – into a pool below.
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