Convento de Santo Domingo

The Flat Arch: The Ruin That Helped Tell the Story of the Panama Canal

Can a brick arch explain why Panama ended up becoming the connecting point between two oceans? The ruins of the Santo Domingo Convent hold one of the most curious stories in Panamanian architecture. Within its walls lies the famous Flat Arch (Arco Chato), a structure built to support the wooden choir loft of the old Dominican church.

The Dominican friars built the church and convent in the new city of Panama starting in 1678, following the relocation from Panamá Viejo. The complex suffered fires in 1737 and 1756, which left it severely damaged. The church was never fully rebuilt, and its remains stood as a testament to that era.

An arch, a legend, and a story that reached the Canal

The shape of the Flat Arch is striking: a large, flattened brick arch spanning just over 11 meters, built without the structural support you would typically expect in a building of this kind. Its durability later became part of a story linked to the engineers studying where to construct the interoceanic canal. There is also an old legend about the friar who supposedly built the arch after several failed attempts and decided to stand directly beneath the structure to demonstrate his confidence in it. The story was first published in 1909 and has since been part of the lore surrounding the monument.

Today, exploring the ruins allows visitors to see the walls, arches, and remains of the old church, imagining the scale of the original temple. The Flat Arch turns a historic stop into an opportunity to look up and discover how an apparently simple structure ended up becoming part of one of Panama’s grandest stories