El Panecillo

According to Juan de Velasco, a Jesuit historian, there was a temple on top of Yavirac where the Indians worshiped the sun until it was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadores.

In 1975, the Spanish artist Agustín de la Herrán Matorras was commissioned by the religious order of the Oblates to build a 45-meter-tall stone monument of a madonna which was assembled on a high pedestal on the top of Panecillo.

The monument was inaugurated on March 28, 1975, by the 11th archbishop of Quito, Pablo Muñoz Vega.

The virgin stands on top of a globe and is stepping on a snake, which is a classic madonna iconography.

This madonna represents a turning point of the Quito School of Art (one of the most renowned of the Americas) because it shows a virgin in movement that is practically dancing in contrast with the traditional static Madonnas that were produced during the 18th century.