The Penha Building

Wandering Around

The Queen Emma pontoon bridgeWe spent an afternoon wandering around downtown Willemstad here on Curacao the other day. Thought I’d post a few pics of the area. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. Established in 1634, it’s been cited for its “organic growth of a multicultural community.” It’s got absolutely fascinating architecture, with Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese influences. Many buildings are hundreds of years old. The building pictured in the header of this article houses the Penha store. Wonderfully detailed, it’s a delightfully bright corner at the entrance to the main shopping area.

BoomThe cannons pictured in the photos to the left and in the above paragraph, were recovered in 1995 from the Handelskade area of Curacao. The are late 18th century examples of the war machinery needed to protect Curacao. They take aim at the Queen Emma Pontoon bridge, a pedestrian only bridge, that can be moved out of the way so even the grandest of cruise ships can enter the inner harbor.

Artwork on the wallsThe town has a very vibrant art community. I’ve showcased some of the artwork that adorns the walls of some of the buildings in the downtown area in previous posts, and this one to the right here is fairly new. I don’t think it was on the wall the last time we came through this particular alley in early December. Just to left of this picture is the studio for one of Curacao’s most famous artists, Nena Sanchez who recently passed away. This particular alley has a lot of other galleries as well.

 

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