Centro Cultural Metropolitano

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Quito is the Catholic archdiocese in the capital city of Ecuador, Quito. It was established as the Diocese of Quito on 8 January 1545, before being elevated to archdiocese level on January 13, 1848 by Pope Pius IX.

La Iglesia de El Sagrario (Spanish, 'Church of the Sanctuary' or 'Church of the Shrine') is a Renaissance Catholic church in the city of Quito, capital of Ecuador. It is located in the Historic Center of the city, on calle García Moreno, formerly known as calle de las Siete Cruces, a few meters from the corner with calle Eugenio Espejo. It is part of the Metropolitan Cathedral complex, although it seems more like an independent church than an adjoining chapel, both because of its size and because of its importance in Quito's art.

Quito (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkito] ; Quechua: Kitu), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes. Quito's elevation of 2,850 m (9,350 ft) makes it either the highest or the second highest capital city in the world. This varied standing is because Bolivia is a country with multiple capitals; if La Paz is considered the Bolivian national capital, it tops the list of highest capitals, but if Sucre is specified as the capital, then it is the second highest, behind Quito. Quito is the political and cultural center of Ecuador as the country's major governmental, administrative, and cultural institutions are located within the city. The majority of transnational companies with a presence in Ecuador are headquartered there. It is also one of the country's two major industrial centers—the port city of Guayaquil being the other one. The date of its first habitation is unknown, but archaeological evidence suggests that it was first settled by sedentary populations between 4400 and 1600 BC. In the late fifteenth century, the Inca Emperor Huayna Capac defeated the Quitu, the region's original inhabitants, and incorporated Quito into the Inca Empire, designating it into the capital of the Inca Empire's northern region. The Spanish conquest of the city in 1534 is the date most frequently cited as the city's official founding, making Quito the oldest capital in South America. Quito's historic center is among the largest and best-preserved in the Americas. In 1978, Quito and Kraków were the first World Cultural Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO. Quito is the capital city closest to the Equator, which runs through the northern part of the metropolitan area in the parish of San Antonio.

The Church and Convent of San Ignacio de Loyola de la Compañía de Jesús de Quito, also known in the Ecuadorian people simply as La Compañía, is a Catholic clerical complex located on the corner formed by calles García Moreno and Sucre, in the Historic Center of the city of Quito, capital of Ecuador. The façade of its main temple is entirely carved in volcanic stone. Over time, this church has also been called: "Temple of Solomon of South America". Father Bernardo Recio, a traveling Jesuit, called it "Golden Ember". The complex includes the Residencia San Ignacio, "Mother House" of the Jesuits in Ecuador. During colonial times, this "Jesuit block" housed the Seminario San Luis, the Colegio Máximo, the University of San Gregorio Magno and the Mainas Missions Office. Since 1862, the Colegio San Gabriel functioned on the block. The church, and its rich internal ornamentation, completely covered with gold sheets, is one of the main tourist attractions in the city and an invaluable heritage, both artistic and economic, for the country. It was visited by Pope John Paul II, who presided over a mass in the church on January 30, 1985, within the framework of his three-day visit to Ecuador. It was also visited by Pope Francis on July 7, 2015, who prayed there before the image of Our Lady of Sorrows.

The Quito Metropolitan Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de Quito), is a Catholic cathedral in Quito, Ecuador. Located on the southwestern side of the Plaza de la Independencia (La Plaza Grande), it (and its predecessor building) served as a seat of the Diocese of Quito from 1545 until 1848 when it was elevated to Archdiocese. In 1995, it was elevated to the Cathedral of Ecuador, making it the seniormost Catholic church in the country.

Alberto Mena Caamaño Museum (Spanish: Museo Alberto Mena Caamaño) is a museum in Quito, Ecuador. A cultural institution of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, it is located in the historic center of the city, next to the Palacio de Carondelet. The Rough Guide to Ecuador considers it to be the "old town's most rewarding museum".It was created by ordinance on May 28, 1957, following a donation from the aristocratic philanthropist Alberto Mena Caamaño. The donation included more than 600 objects including paintings, sculptures, archaeological pieces, weapons and miscellaneous items. After a restoration of the former Royal Barracks building, the museum opened to the public on November 3, 1959. In 1970 a permanent exhibition hall was added on a theme of the slaughter which occurred on August 2, 1810, when 200 citizens were killed in the barracks and the surrounding streets of Quito by royalist troops. It is depicted by wax figures of the artist Francisco Barbieri. In 1987 the museum had to close its doors due to minor damage to the building structure, as a result of the earthquakes that rocked Quito that year. Finally, on November 27, 2002, it reopened following extensive restoration.

San Francisco is a Quito Metro station. It was officially opened on 21 December 2022 as part of the inaugural section of the system between Quitumbe and El Labrador. The revenue service started on 2 May 2023 and discontinued on 11 May 2003. The station is located between La Alameda and La Magdalena.This is an underground station. It has five lifts, ten escalators, and the projected traffic is 69,000 passengers per day.The station is located in the historic center of Quito, in the eastern corner of Plaza San Francisco, at the intersection of Calle Sebastián de Benalcázar and Calle Sucre. One of the entrances has been made in a historic building.On 23 January 2023, the first train with 600 passengers to whom invitations were extended, arrived to the station.

Sucre House (Spanish: Museo Casa de Sucre) is a museum in the historic center of Quito, Ecuador. It was established in 1977 by the Ministry of Defence. It is dedicated to the memory of its most famous occupants: the Venezuelan independence hero, Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, and his wife, Mariana Carcelén. The museum contains the personal belongings of the couple, including the original furniture that was occupied in the different rooms of the mansion, everyday items, and even maps and documents from the time of independence. The ground floor contains many of the weapons and military equipment owned by Sucre, while the second floor contains furniture and rooms as they would have appeared in his time.

The Municipality of Quito (officially the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito) is the governing body of the city of Quito and the Metropolitan District. Its headquarters are at the Municipal Palace, located on the east side of the Plaza de La Independencia

The Plaza de San Francisco (“Saint Francis Square”) is a major public square in the Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador, upon which faces La Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco (the Church and Convent of St. Francis) from which it takes its name.

The Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, is a Catholic temple located in the Historic Center of the city of Quito, capital of Ecuador. It is the first church and headquarters of the Mercedarian Order in the country, and for this reason it bears the title of Basilica. The white building has five domes, a square tower and is decorated with Inca and Arabic inscriptions. Construction began in 1701, the tower was completed in 1736, and the basilica was consecrated in 1737. The architect was José Jaime Ortiz. The main altarpiece was carved and built by Bernardo de Legarda between 1748 and 1751. The sacristy behind the chancel is a work from the early 19th century. In its sacristy as well as inside the Church, there are several works by the artist Víctor Mideros. It maintains one of the most important historical libraries in the city, both for its content and for its state of conservation. The library of La Merced unfolds on two floors of the north wing of the Convent and has access through the lower floor, as well as the upper one. Bookcases line the walls of both floors and are linked inside by a beautiful carved wooden spiral staircase. According to the inventory and cataloging carried out during the Library Conservation Project from 1994 to 1997, 22,000 volumes and more than 40,000 bibliographic records were counted. The Merced Library Conservation Project was financed by the Getty Conservation Institute and managed by the Caspicara Foundation of Quito. The Director of the Project was the renowned Document and Paper Restorer Marcos Rivadeneira Silva in the conservation area and Ángel Oleas in the Cataloging area.

The Basilica and Convent of San Francisco (Spanish: Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco), commonly known as el San Francisco, is a Catholic basilica that stands in the middle of the historic center of Quito, in front of the square of the same name. It is the oldest and most significant religious site in Ecuador. The structure is the largest architectural complex within the historic centers of all of South America, and for this reason it was known as "El Escorial of the New World". San Francisco is considered a jewel of continental architecture for its mixture of different styles combined throughout more than 150 years of construction. San Francisco is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "City of Quito". On its three and a half hectares of surface, thirteen cloisters have been built (six of them of great magnitude), three temples, a large Atrium, adding approximately 40,000 square meters of construction. Multiple activities are currently carried out there: conventual and religious, public care in the areas of health, communication, education and others of a popular nature that keep the building active. Inside the church there are more than 3,500 works of colonial art, of multiple artistic manifestations and varied techniques, especially those corresponding to the Colonial Quito School of Art, which was born precisely in this place. It also has a Franciscan library, described in the 17th century as the best in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The complex is preceded by the Plaza de San Francisco that for years supplied the city with water from its central fountain, and which has functioned as a popular market, as a space for military and political concentrations, and as a meeting place and social recreation. The concave-convex staircase that connects the square with the Atrium, which highlights the Mannerist-Baroque facade of the main building, is considered of great architectural importance in the Colonial Americas.