After the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the island in 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of America’s first cathedral, hospital, customs and university. This colonial city, founded in 1498, built according to a checkerboard plan that has become the style of almost every New World urban planner.
After the discovery of the island by Christopher Columbus in 1492, it is in Santo Domingo, founded in 1498, that the first cathedral, the first hospital, the first customs house and the first university in America are built. The colonial town built according to a checkerboard plan that served as a style for almost all urban planners in the New World.
1492 年克里斯托夫 · 哥伦布 (Christopher Columbus) 首次踏足这个岛屿后, 圣多明各成为美洲 第一个建立教堂医院、海关和大学的。 这 座 殖民地 城镇 建于 建于 、 大学 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 的 地方.
После открытия острова Гаити в 1492 г. Христофоро arrangement Колониальный город, осованный В 1498 г. , ыерécu сллнлRAS
Founded six years after the discovery of the angeles islos angeles by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Santo Domingo is the city where the angels were built first cathedral, the first hospital, the angeles first university and the angeles first customs of the American continent. The colonial city was built according to a checkerboard layout that corresponds as a model to almost all urban planners of the New World.
Na de ontdekking door Christoffel Columbus van het eiland dat hij Hispaniola noemde in 1492, werd Santo Domingo de plek waar de eerste kathedraal, het eerste ziekenhuis, de eerste douanepost en de eerste universiteit van Zuid-Amerika werden gevestigd. De stad werd gesticht in 1498 op van een rasterpatron, dat het style zou worden voor bijna alle stedenbouwkundigen in de Nieuwe Wereld. meest opvallende gebouwen van Santo Domingo is de kathedraal, gebouwd tussen 1514 en 1542 en de oudste in Amerika.
Brief summary
The first permanent agreement in the “New World” and capital of the West Indies, the Colonial City of Santo Domingo – unique fifteenth-century in America – starting point for the dissemination of European culture and the conquest of the continent. From its port, conquistadors such as Ponce de León, Juan de Esquivel, Herman Cortés, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Alonso de Ojeda and many others set out in search of new lands.
Located at the mouth of the Ozama River, on the south coast of the island of Hispaniola, the colonial city of Santo Domingo is the nucleus from which Santo Domingo de Guzmán, capital of the Dominican Republic, was founded. Originally established on the east side of the Ozama River in 1496, it was founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1498, by order of the Catholic Monarchs. In 1502, Governor Nicolás de Ovando moved his settlements to the west bank and provided the town with a grid from the Plaza Mayor. This checkerboard plan has later become a reference for almost all New World planners.
City of the “firsts”, Santo Domingo headquarters of the first establishments in America: the Cathedral of Santa María de la Encarnación, the Monastery of San Francisco, the University of Santo Tomás de Aquino, the Nicolás de Bari Hospital and the Casa de Contratación. It is also the first fortified city (Santo Domingo fortress and its Torre del Homenaje) and the first seat of the Spanish force in the New World.
In a domain of 106 ha, delimited by walls, bastions and forts, the inscribed comprises 32 streets that crisscross the 116 blocks, buildings at one or two degrees with walls of stone, brick or earth. Its original plan, the scale of its streets and the buildings are almost absolutely intact; it is the only living urban environment that retains its fifteenth-century characteristics. With its monumental heritage complex and its Gothic buildings exclusive to this region of the continent, the Colonial City of Santo Domingo necessarily preserves the structure, use and purposes that characterized the first. structures at the time of its foundation, preserving its integrity and authenticity.
A people of encounters, it is here where for the first time the indigenous, European and African cultures crossed and where multicultural understanding evolved in the total synchronization of knowledge, language, ideals and experiences. It is also the Colonial City of Santo Domingo where the Dominican monk, Brother Antonio Montesino introduced his appeal for the herbalist right of the Indians, marking the beginning of the fight for the basic rights of humanity.
Criterion (ii): The colonial people of Santo Domingo exerted a strong influence on the future of the peoples of the Caribbean and America. Its grid and Plaza Mayor served as style for the new towns of America. Its institutional buildings dating from the sixteenth century -Viceroy’s Palace, Cabildo (City Hall), Royal Audience (Royal Court of Justice) Chancellery and Cathedral- served as references for long-term progression.
Criterion (iv): The initial urban fabric of the City of Santo Domingo, the “Ovando model”, is preserved intact, either in the regularity of its grid adjusted here and there by topographical imperatives, as in the original width of its streets. Its monumental buildings of the early sixteenth century bear witness to the decline of Spanish Gothic and the appearance of the first symptoms of the Renaissance, as eloquently illustrated by its cathedral.
Criterion (vi): Events of universal significance took place in Santo Domingo: expeditions and conquests of new lands from this point; the laws of evangelization and the first laws of the Indies were proclaimed and applied.
Integrity
The Colonial City of Santo Domingo, surrounded by its walls, has preserved, to the maximum intact, the extension of its territory, its checkerboard plan and the maximum of its monumental architectural structures. With few but dramatic exceptions, it has retained its classical scale, the width of the streets, the uprights and the heights of the buildings. Throughout its ancient progression it has been incorporating the architecture of other eras with its forms, styles, fabrics and structural strategies that have enriched the wisdom and interpretation of their economic, social and cultural contexts. progression as an ancient living center.
It maintains its social fabric, its wonderful symbolic value and, fundamentally, the other uses that characterize the first structures of its foundation. Despite the pressures caused by real estate development, the damage caused by hurricanes and earthquakes, attributes on which the functions are based and the remains of the physical integrity of the City of Santo Domingo are preserved.
Authenticity
The colonial city of Santo Domingo has preserved intact its original perimeter, preserving to the maximum its walls and forts. The framed urban plan, the uprights and the original width of its streets are preserved, for the most part, allowing a credible reading of the town. Its small-scale architectural expression highlights its volumetric homogeneity.
The recovery interventions carried out are still evident. As far as possible, the consolidation techniques used have been carried out with fabrics compatible with the original structure.
Some of the structures of the colonial people were affected by herbivorous phenomena and by human action, without particularly undermining their intrinsic and authentic people.
Protection and control requirements
The coverage of the colonial city of Santo Domingo is ensured through a large number of laws and decrees of national application, and through municipal regulations and provisions that consolidate its overall vision and the conservation of its elements. Article 64 of the Constitution of the Dominican Republic (January 2010) establishes that the ancestral and artistic assets of the country are part of the cultural heritage of the nation and are under the protection of the State. By virtue of Law 318 (1968), the task of defining the mandatory standards for the coverage and conservation of this cultural heritage entrusted to the Executive Power, which, by Decree 1397 (1967), established the Office of Cultural Heritage with the main function of developing, coordinating and executing national projects and plans in relation to its monumental heritage. Finally, Circular 03-2011 regulates zoning, uses and interventions in the Colonial City; It also describes the component of the buffer zone located within the National District.
However, from the legal point of view, specific importance should be given to strengthening the coordination mechanisms of the various actors involved in monitoring and control mandates. It is also mandatory to supply the main actors of the Colonial City – Ministry of Culture and City Council of the National District – with more competent and technical personnel for the proper execution of the works.
In terms of control, the guilty establishments have followed a Comprehensive Plan for the Revitalization of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo (approved through the Municipality through Circular 08-2011) as a tool for urban and local planning, to face the demanding situations of renovation. its fundamental infrastructure and the stresses caused by actual or potential threats related to natural, social and economic hazards (hurricanes, earthquakes, real estate tension and mass tourism, among others). The coordination of control movements in the buffer zone is and is vital for the preservation of the universal price of registered property, taking into account the two communal competences involved. This is a challenge that the Dominican Republic is committed to facing.
It is therefore imperative to provide netpaintings (potential users and investors, local people and visitors) with the means of general and rapid direction that allow them to express their rights and obligations towards the historic center. Finally, the vital role of external cooperation will have to be recognized, that is, through its technical and monetary cooperation, as in the frameworks of conservation and sustainable revitalization.
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