travel

photo by Milton Roldan

The stuff of legends

This golden altar in the Iglesia San Jose, the Catholic parish church for the Casco Viejo, has a storied history.

Made of precious metal plundered during the Spanish conquest, it was the centerpiece for a church in Panama Viejo when Henry Morgan, a Welshman with the backing of the British crown, came rampaging through Panama in 1671.

But for the troubles in Northern Ireland, it might be said that Morgan's raid on Panama was one of the last military campaigns in the wars of the Reformation. In addition to a general policy of grabbing all gold encountered and various tactics of kidnapping for ransom and interrogation using torture aimed at obtaining more gold, Morgan and his men made a special target of the Catholic Church.

Knowing this, priests whitewashed the altar so that it appeared to be just ornately carved wood.

Why wasn't the altar destroyed in the general burning of Panama Viejo?

Morgan's men didn't burn the old capital. The Spanish authorities ordered a scorced earth policy to deny anything of value to the invaders. Given the nature of this artifact, it was kept out of enemy hands by ruse rather than by destruction.

Many Panama Viejo residents fled the burning city ahead of the invaders in ships that crossed the Gulf of Panama to the Azuero Peninsula. There they founded Las Tablas, so named for homes built of boards taken from dismantled ships. The Carnival celebrations that make Las Tablas famous today came later, but its reputation as a center of Panama's traditional culture dates back to the flight from Morgan's raid.

When Panama City was moved from the ruined Panama Viejo to the more easily defended promontory that's the Casco Viejo, the golden altar was moved to a new church in the new capital as well.

Lots of tourists visit the church to see the golden altar, and they should understand and follow some rules of etiquette when doing so.