Potosí - Bolivia

This is another card from my UNESCO missing list sent by Stefanie. 

Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal 4,090 metres. 

The City of Potosí was founded in 1546 as a silver mining town, which soon produced fabulous wealth, becoming one of the largest cities in the Americas and the world. The site consists of the industrial monuments of the Cerro Rico, where water is provided by an intricate system of aqueducts and artificial lakes; the colonial town with the Casa de la Moneda; the Church of San Lorenzo; several patrician houses; and the barrios mitayos, the areas where the workers lived.

The card shows La Casa de la Moneda, Mint House. 

Foto Pacheco

The Casa de la Moneda (House of the Mint), in the centre of the city close to Republic Square, was constructed between 1753 and 1773. The house today is a numismatic museum. It possesses more than 100 colonial pictures and various archaeological and ethnographic collections. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/420

Don Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of Peru ordered the construction of the first Mint in 1572 which proved to be insufficient for the coinage of the massive quantity of silver proceeding from Cerro Rico. It is for construct another Mint capable of meeting the needs of coinage.

This important building, built of stone, brick, tiles and cedar wood, has a surface area of 7570 squared meters. One can gain access to it through a beautiful entrance of mannerist style.

The Mint House of Potosi is considered as the most important civil building of Latin America. From the outside, the building looks like a virtual fortress. On the inside, the patios are decorated with arches, wooden balconies and ample eaves. - in: http://www.hotelpotosi.com/potositravelguide.html