Iglesia de la Merced

The baroque façade of the rectangular Iglesia de la Merced squarely faces everyone who walks down Avenida Central from the north. It seems relatively small, but these stones have a long and impressive history. After Henry Morgan sacked Panamá Viejo, the settlers rebuilding the city transferred the entire façade and erected it here, fronting a new church in 1680. The interior was destroyed by fire and had to be entirely rebuilt again centuries later, and this early 20th-century remodeling added the tiled floors and wooden altars inside the church today. An ornate red and gold altar at the very front of the church gloriously depicts Christ to the faithful.