in the midst of luxury
and urban blight
Modern
skyscrapers are squeezing the small neighborhood of La Exposición.
An emblematic
Panama City neighborhood is struggling to survive, flanked by the
glass-and-steel towers of the bayfront, to the east, and the urban
decay of Calidonia, to the west.
Developed
after 1916 along ample avenues lined with large trees, La Exposición
(which translates as "The Exhibit") was the brainchild of
Dr. Belisario Porras. A man of great vision, Porras, who served three
times as president of Panama in the early 20th century, devoted great
time and effort in developing national institutions and infrastructure
after the Republic was formed upon the declaration of independence
from Colombia in 1903.
In 1915,
Dr. Porras proposed to the National Assembly that Panama launch a
major international exhibit to observe the fourth centennial of the
discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the opening of the Panama Canal
which transited its first ship the year before. Although world exhibits
were fashionable in other parts of the world during that period, many
in Panama thought that such an idea was outrageous for a poor country
with little more than 400,000 souls.
Office of the General Prosecutor of the Nation.
The project,
nevertheless, was approved, and the government purchased a large,
private plot called El Hatillo for the occasion. After landfilling
parts of the property (which was covered with mangroves) and relocating
the area's poor residents to what is known today as San Francisco,
a number of countries, including Spain and Cuba, initiated the construction
of their respective pavilions.
The exhibit
opened in 1916 and was considered the largest cultural, scientific
and technology display in Central America to that point. Local institutions
and schools also participated.
After
the exhibit ended later that year, the wooden pavillions were demolished,
and the government sold the property to developers, who in turn sold
lots to wealthy residents. Along Avenida Cuba, Peru and Vía
España (thoroughfares honoring some of the fair's participating
countries) new mansions appeared, featuring the same architectural
style of the adjacent Bella Vista suburb (reflecting a mixture of
Spanish colonial and Neo-classic influences). New government buildings
were erected in the area, making it the true "capital of Panama"
Monument honoring Dr. Belisario Porras, who
established the neighborhood in 1916.
In the
heyday of La Exposición, mansions spread between Avenida Balboa
and the area known today as "La Cuchilla", but today, it
basically covers the area between avenidas Cuba and Peru, with Plaza
Porras as its center. A handful of pavillions of the 1916 fair are
still in use today, having been restored in recent years.These include
the embassies of Spain and Cuba, and the office of the General Prosecutor
of the Administration. The National Archives, a grandiose, but ill-kept
structure featuring an impressive Neo-classic facade, is also part
of this compound, along with Museum of Natural Sciences (in use, but
in need of repair) and the Gorgas Memorial Center on Avenida Justo
Arosemena –still considered one of the top tropical medicine
research centers in Latin America.
Old mansion occupied by Universidad del Istmo.
La Exposición's
population started to decline in the 1960's and '70's when it's well-to-do
residents started to migrate to La Cresta, El Cangrejo and Punta Paitilla.
Many of its old townhouses have either been replaced by modern structures,
are occupied by poor families or have been completely abandoned.
La Exposición,
along with its eastern neighboor, Bella Vista, are rapidly losing
their original character, in the midst of a real estate craze caused
by the arrival of hundreds of expats from Europe and North America
in recent years. A number of organizations have appeared in recent
months seeking to preserve the remaining structures. A project to
declare the area a "historic architectural zone" is waiting
for approval at the National Assembly.
The National Archives, with its impressive
neo-classic façade.
