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Show THE OLD AND THE NEW - 'u New World's Oldest City Stases Anniversary Fete Moss-covered ruins of some of the first buildings in America Amer-ica stand picturesquely among modern structures, suspension suspen-sion bridges, spacious boulevards, fine hospitals and schools in the oldest city in the western hemisphere, Ciudad Trujillo iin the Dominican republic, which on Sunday, August 4, observed ob-served the 450th anniversary of its founding. i- r A'-'i I pt 'i I ' j I As a highlight of the fete, a three-4 masted caravel, modeled after one of Columbus' ships, sailed up the Chama river to re-enact the founding found-ing of western civilization's first permanent lite. Wearing late 15th century costumes, sailors moored the ship to a replica of a tree used by Columbus' brother, Bartolome, when he founded the city in 1496. Share With Haiti, The original city, named Nueva Isabella in honor of Spain's queen, was located on the south shore of the island which Columbus named Hispaniola. Hispaniola, second to Cuba in size among the West Indies, In-dies, lies between Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles chain. Sharing the island with Haiti, the Dominican republic occupies its eastern two-thirds. Long called Santo Domingo, the city was renamed Ciudad Trujillo (Trujillo City) in 1936 after President Rafael Trujillo, in gratitude for his efforts in reconstructing: re-constructing: the city along modern mod-ern lines after a hurricane in 1930 almost completely demolished demol-ished the city. Proud of their capital city's long history, the 2,000,000 people of the Dominican republic are even more conscious of its modernity and up-to-dateness. Ruins of the first hospital hos-pital built in the Americas are a short distance from the sun decks FAMOUS TREE . . . Two nuns and a little girl stand at the base of Ciudad Trujillo's famous tree, the old Cottonwood to which Bartolome Bar-tolome Columbus, brother of the new world's discoverer, moored his ship in founding the oldest city in the Western hemisphere. of the city's ultra-modern tuberculosis tuber-culosis hospital. The vine-covered arch of the first monastery in America Amer-ica offers an exciting contrast to the modernistic verandas of the Jaragua hotel, reputed to be the finest resort hotel between Miami and Rio de Janeiro. The Cathedral of Santo Domingo, another "first" m the Western hemisphere, is close to a long row of modem government buildings. Wrecked by Hurricane. Two violent hurricanes striking 428 years apart each stimulated the community's growth. The first occurred oc-curred in July, 1502, demolishing the few flimsy buildings of the six-year-old post. The second struck the Dominican capital in September, Septem-ber, 1930, a few days after Trujillo became president. Through most of the 16th century, Santo Domingo thrived as Spain's capital of the western world. Co-lumbus Co-lumbus visited it often, even ignoring ignor-ing a royal decree when he stopped there on his last voyage. In accordance ac-cordance with his wishes, he was buried there. Ashes of the great admiral ad-miral now rest in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, awaiting transfer to the Columbus Memorial lighthouse, light-house, soon to be built on a high promontory just outside the city as a beacon for ships and planes. Nobles seeking gold, scientists scien-tists and explorers, rich, enterprising enter-prising merchants, Socked to the new world's capital, making it a springboard from which new conquests were launched. Cortes, Balboa, Pizarro, Ponce ! de Leon. De Soto and others ; . i? su . , CHURCH TREASURE . . . Valued Val-ued at five million dollars, the above church treasure was on display dis-play during Ciudad Trujillo's anniversary an-niversary fete. Included are the original cross planted on the island is-land by Columbus, an altar bell designed by Benvenuto Cellini, famous Italian artist, and other priceless items. made it the starting point of important voyages of discovery. Two centuries of decay followed capture of the settlement by Sir Francis Drake in 1586. Spanish interest in-terest was diverted to mainland mineral wealth. Internal quarrels, attacks by English, French and pirates pi-rates thinned the colony to 500 people peo-ple by 1735. |