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Stone façade of the Alcázar de Colón in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City.Phyrexian · CC BY-SA 4.0

05The story

Stone across the centuries

Dated architectural milestones in Santo Domingo: from the city’s founding to the Colonial City’s World Heritage listing.

  1. 1496

    Santo Domingo founded on 5 August, the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas.

  2. 1502

    Fortaleza Ozama begun and institutions moved to the west bank on a grid plan.

  3. 1504

    Construction begins on the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in the colonial quarter.

  4. 1508

    Fortaleza Ozama roughly completed as a military work at the river mouth.

  5. 1511

    Alcázar de Colón begun, built 1511–1514 as a fortified palace.

  6. 1550

    Cathedral completed after decades of coral-stone construction.

  7. 1990

    Colonial City inscribed on the World Heritage List.