Santo Domingo: Colonial History, Museums and the Malecón

For a trip to Santo Domingo, the Ciudad Colonial offers a strong focus on history. It lies at the mouth of the Ozama on the southern coast of the island of Hispaniola. As the main tourist center of the Distrito Nacional, it brings together more than 500 years of history as well as European and American influences. Here, you can explore colonial-era buildings, historical functions and a range of museum themes as different ways of looking at the city’s history. If you are looking for a hotel in Santo Domingo, these highlights can help guide your choice of which aspects of the city you are especially interested in exploring on your trip.

Buildings and historical roles

Calle Las Damas is lined with 16th-century buildings and former colonial buildings that now house museums, embassies and upscale hotels. The street is also home to Fortaleza Ozama, described as the first fortress in the Americas, and the National Pantheon, the resting place of the Dominican Republic’s national heroes. Parque Colón serves as the forecourt of Catedral Primada de América, adding a clear spatial relationship to the nearby sights.

The palace of Museo Alcazar de Colon served as the seat of government in the early years of the Spanish conquest and as the central administrative center of the colonial administration in the New World. The Ayuntamiento’s tourism information gives 1510 to 1514 as the construction period for the Alcázar de Diego Colón.

Museums with different focuses

Museo Centro Cultural Taíno Casa del Cordón features the permanent exhibition “Our First Inhabitants,” with a pre-Hispanic archaeological collection and Taíno artifacts. Museo Mundo del Ámbar is dedicated to amber and combines natural history, paleontology and local culture. At Museo Memorial de la Resistencia Dominicana, multimedia presentations showcase Dominican resistance figures and historical events, including the 1937 genocide of Haitians and the 1960 murder of the Mirabal sisters. Museo de las atarazanas reales preserves and displays the island’s maritime and nautical heritage.

Other historical sites offer different points of interest: the Ciudad Colonial is home to the ruins of San Francisco de Asís, the first Hospital San Nicolás de Bari and a 17th-century sundial. The churches of Santa Bárbara, Las Mercedes and Regina Angelorum are frequently visited by local and foreign tourists.

City life by the Caribbean Sea

The Malecón de Santo Domingo is the city’s coastal boulevard along the Caribbean Sea and is officially called George Washington Boulevard. Its features include marked cycling and inline skating lanes as well as promenades and seating by the sea. In 2010, the boulevard played an important role in Santo Domingo’s selection as the Cultural Capital of the Americas. On Calle El Conde, you can stroll and enjoy a coffee. A coffee stroll along the street and the recreational facilities on the coastal boulevard thus offer different aspects of city life.

Discover more destinations: Boca Chica, Caballona, Andrés, Pedro Brand, El Toro, Santo Domingo Este.

Go to the main travel overview: Santo Domingo.