The Territories of Urracá

In Santiago de Veraguas there is Escuela Normal Juan Demóstenes Arosemena, a huge school and beautiful piece of Panamanian architecture built in 1938. In front of the school there is a monument of the first martyr of Santiago, the indigenous chief Ubarranaga Manta Tugri, better known as Cacique Urracá, who united the indigenous tribes of the Veraguas region and fought against the Spanish conquistadors for 9 years and have become a symbol of rebellion and national freedom.

The Veraguas Museum is located in a house built at the beginning of the 20th century that once was home to the national guard and later the city’s prison. Now it is a place full of history, culture and traditions. The museum has an extensive collection of petroglyphs, ceramics and gold accessories from the pre-Columbian times.

San Francisco de Veraguas, better known as San Francisco de la Montaña is a village founded in 1621 by members of the Santo Domingo Order. The church of “Francis of Assisi” was built in 1727 and is Panama’s most beautiful piece of baroque architecture. One very interesting detail to observe at the San Francisco church is the fusion of the indigenous with the Spanish catholic culture – many of the saints carved in wood and depicted on the altars show clearly indigenous facial features.

La Yeguada is a forest reserve and dormant volcano in the Veraguas Province. The last eruption of the strato-volcano dates from approximately 45,000 years ago. After being heavily deforested, La Yeguada has become one of the country’s first project to reforest Central Panama in the 1960’s. The fertile area, dense forests, crystal clear rivers and gentle mountains create a fresh and enjoyable climate and was already inhabited in pre-Columbian times by several indigenous tribes.