Cuenca celebrates 468th anniversary with fairs and events, but historians say it was only a renaming

Cuenca’s foundation holiday continues through the weekend with craft and good fairs, concerts and a wide range of cultural activities. According to city tourism officials, more than 200 artisans and performers from all areas of Ecuador have joined the celebration.

Cuenca’s foundation holiday features native dances and other cultural events.

Under the slogan “Feel the love for Cuenca,” the city is hosting crafts and food fairs at San Francisco Plaza; along Av. 12 de Abril and Paseo 3 de Noviebre; the Artesanal Portal at Av Huayna Capac and Simon Bolivar; Otorongo Plaza; and Plazoleta del Herrero.

Among the scheduled events are a food festival with traditional dances Friday and Saturday at Chaguarchimbana on the Plazoleta del Herrero, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; a Corn Festival at San Francisco Plaza Friday and Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.; and the dramatization by the Barojo Collective at the Parque Calderón glorieta Friday at 6 p.m.

Event organizers announced Thursday that the city’s public museums will offer extended hours over the holiday weekend. The museums include Remigio Crespo Toral, the Museum of Modern Art, Pumapungo, the Museum of the Conceptas, the Planetarium and the Toquilla Hat Museum.

A full agenda of events is available at the municipality website and at the tourist office next to the municipal building on Parque Calderon.

The Spanish didn’t ‘found’ Cuenca
Although the holiday celebrates the city’s establishment by the Spanish crown in 1557, historians point out that it was actually a renaming. “There had been a community here for more than 3,000 years,” says retired history professor Hernan Iglesias. “In fact, the entry of the Spanish into the area was not a time for celebration for the inhabitants due to their brutality and lack of respect for the existing culture.”

According to Iglesias, the Spanish represented the second invasion of Cuenca in less than 60 years. “The Incas devastated the city at the beginning of the 16th century,” he says. “They renamed the Cañari city of Guapondeleg — which had existed for centuries — Tomebamba. So when the Spanish arrived, they simply renamed it again, as Cuenca, after the city in Spain.”

Iglesias points out the irony of the Spanish foundation holiday. “We celebrate it but there’s an even bigger celebration in October and November when we kicked out the Spanish and proclaimed our independence,” he says.