The Malecon is a contender for one of seven distinctions as Treasure of the Material Cultural Heritage of Santo Domingo. The International Bureau of Capitals of Culture is organizing a contest that features 27 candidates for the treasure, most of which are Colonial City monuments. The city’s emblematic seafront boulevard was inaugurated on 23 February 1936 and extended several times to reach the westernmost side of Santo Domingo.
The Malecon is the setting for the Santo Domingo carnival in March, the Merengue Festival in July and Christmas and New Year eve celebrations at the end of the year.
It is also the scene of a range of historical sites, from colonial era monuments to one marking the payment of the foreign debt, to another that honors Fray Anton de Montesinos, an early precursor of human rights in the Americas, and another that honors the men who executed dictator Trujillo in 1961.
Several landmark restaurants, such as Vesuvio, which introduced Italian food to Dominicans, and Adrian Tropical, line the avenue.
It also has the Supreme Court of Justice, the Center of the Heroes with many buildings by Guillermo Gonzalez, considered the father of architecture in the DR. The Loyola School, originally the Pavilion of Spain in the World Fair of 1955, was built by Javier Barroso, the architect who rebuilt the Columbus Alcazar. Others are the Ministry of Foreign Relations, built by the famous Antonin Nechodoma and Dominican Jose Caro Alvarez.
Today, inadequate lighting and safety problems affect the Malecon and it has largely fallen into neglect and disrepair. A vote to distinguish the boulevard as one of the city’s main treasures would bring it back to everyone’s attention.
Vote today and get your friends to vote for the Malecon at www.cac-acc.org/vota.php
To read more about the Malecon, see http://dr1.com/travelnews/MaleconEn.html or in Spanish, see http://dr1.com/travelnews/MaleconSp.html