With the support of the National Association of Mexican World Heritage Cities (ANCMPM), the diplomatic corps of Ecuador in Mexico, proposed pairing up Guanajuato, Capital, with Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca, a city located in a valley of the Andes mountain range, in that South American country.
Leonardo Arízaga Schmegel, Ecuador’s ambassador in Mexico, thanked Mayor Édgar Castro Cerrillo, for his support in opening dialogue channels with the ANCMPM and endorsing the pairing proposal.
Broadly speaking, his idea is to establish reciprocal relations between both cities to design and implement joint projects for protection, preservation and dissemination of emblematic sites and cultural assets.
Both Guanajuato and Cuenca are among the most charming cities in the hemisphere, with cobbled stone streets, ancient temples, small squares, museums and, of course, hundreds (or even thousands) of artists, writers and thinkers whose contributions raise the level of charm.
Cuenca, which received its inscription as Cultural Patrimony of Humanity in 1999, is known as the “Athens of Ecuador” and, coincidentally, the novelist Jorge Ibargüengoitia referred to Guanajuato as the “Athens of around here”. In both cases, for the architectural beauty of the historic center and the cultural life.
Guanajuato maintains bonds of brotherhood with other ancient cities, like Ashland in the United States; Spoleto, Italy; Segovia, Spain; Avignon, France, and Arequipa, Peru, among many others.
Source: am.com.mx