The original cathedral on Parque Calderón, El Sagrario dates to 1557 and is one of the oldest standing churches in Ecuador. Now repurposed as a museum, it holds a thoughtfully presented collection of colonial religious art — paintings, gilded altarpieces and carved wooden saints from the centuries when Cuenca was an important centre of the Spanish colonial church. The façade facing Parque Calderón is the symbolic heart of the historic centre, and the contrast with the looming New Cathedral next door makes the plaza one of the most striking in South America.