Baluarte de las Monjas

The strong city walls that once protected Casco Viejo from the perils of piracy, known as baluartes or bastions, remain today as only a few isolated stretches of stonework. Amongst these, Baluarte de las Monjas is especially demonstrative of what these bastions once looked like, stretching away from the road. The bastion was first built in the late 17th century, as the inhabitants of Panama Viejo who had survived the destruction wrecked by pirate Henry Morgan constructed a new, better-protected city. It was broadened and strengthened over the ensuing decades, and this particular segment was named for the nuns living at the Convento de Concepción near this spot until the structure was demolished in 1905.