Apuntes para un análisis sociológico de la Virgen del Panecillo

Abstract

The topographic importance of Panecillo is notorious within the City of Quito, since it sets limits between the Northern and the Southern part of town. During Pre Incaic and Incaic times, it was a sacred ceremonial place. The monument to the Virgin, built on its top in the 20th Century, during the seventies, shows the triumph of one culture over another, as well as the use of references to the sacred within the symbolic space of the city. The former Indigenous place of worship became a strategic site for urban logistics, the disposition of which shows the Virgin facing progress, the Northern part of town, and turning her back to the Southern part of town, the city of the poor. This has generated stereotypes and social valuation systems. Panecillo has therefore been an important and unavoidable reference for the topography of Quito and, as such, it has arisen sociological, religious and artistic interest.