City of Azúa de Compostela

Photo by Roman Bruehwiler.

City of Azúa de Compostela is part of the Tentative list of Dominican Republic in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

Azúa de Compostela is one of the oldest European settlements in the Americas (1504). After having been flattened by an earthquake in 1751, it was rebuilt and focused on the sugar trade. Major landmarks include its churches and a colonial sugar cane mill.

Map of City of Azúa de Compostela

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The coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.

Community Reviews

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Zoë Sheng

Chinese-Canadian - 09-Aug-19 -

City of Azúa de Compostela (T) by Zoë Sheng

Clearly lacking the understanding of outstanding universal value, this is one of those sites that should be dismissed right away. I'm not an expert, I may just be missing the location and real value because until it is reviewed by an expert and inscribed there is little info available.

I tried to get such understanding from the museum but it was closed both times I drove through and the state of the locked lobby makes me think funding was cut and this had to closed a while ago. So I walked southwest a couple of blocks to find a pizzeria oops I mean ruined church and that's what you see on the picture. (I did get a pizza too not to waste all the time in this town)

It's locked off, trashed, overgrown, nothing is happening here. I don't think tourists really know this place exists anyway. I only know it from the website here. There ARE some ruins 7km south of town that are recommended by the tourist bureau but i guess that's something totally different. UPDATE: apparently the ruins to the south are the real attraction but an internet search revealed them to be in a horrible state. Not worth seeking out. If the church is also going to be part of an inscription attempt remains to be seen.

Obviously not worth visiting but I had to drive through anyway. The description also talks about what "should" be done to protect it, maybe a mistranslation or just more of a plea for more support from the government. It does sound like there are more ruins but no thanks.


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Full Name
City of Azúa de Compostela
Country
Dominican Republic
Added
2001
Type
Cultural
Categories
Urban landscape - Colonial
Link
By ID
2001 Added to Tentative List

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City of Azúa de Compostela (T)

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