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Plaza Bolivar is an elegant square dedicated in 1883 to Simon Bolivar, whose statue, crowned by a condor, stands in its centre. Bolivar came here in 1826 for the first Panamerican congress, held in the chapter-room of the old monastery building on the northeast corner of the square. Lined with carved wooden panelling and nineteenth-century portraits, the plush interior is currently being restored and may reopen to visitors. Next door stands the church and monastery of San Francisco , built in the seventeenth century but extensively modified since. The church is usually closed, but if you ask in the parish office on Av B someone there will open it up and show you around. Other than the carved wooden confessional dating to 1736, the interior is unspectacular, but the views across the city from the tower make it well worth visiting. Just off the square to the south on Av B is the Teatro Nacional , designed by Genaro Ruggieri, the Italian architect responsible for La Scala in Milan. Extensively restored in the early 1970s and reopened with a performance by Margot Fonteyn, the British ballerina and long-term Panama resident, in 1974, the theatre still stages performances in the evening and can be visited during the day (free, but ask the security guards' permission). Built to the most exacting acoustic standards, the splendid Neoclassical interior is richly furnished and decorated in red and gold, with French crystal chandeliers, busts of famous dramatists and a vaulted ceiling painted with scenes depicting the birth of the nation by Panamanian artist Roberto Lewis. Avenida B ends in a parking lot on the seafront. From here it is a 200m walk south along the seafront to the corner of Av A and C 1, past some immaculately restored nineteenth-century houses to the west and, overlooking the sea to the east, the ruined shell of the Club de Clases y Tropas , a recreation centre for Noriega's National Guard which was destroyed during the US invasion, with some Noriegista slogans still visible beneath the heavy graffiti on the walls.
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