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There is no unanimity and certainty among historians and chroniclers about the founder and the exact founding date of the city that was initially called Villaviciosa de la Concepción in the Province of Hatunllanta. The most widely accepted, based on what was noted by the chronicler Pedro Cieza de León and the information in the Green Book of Cabildos de Quito, is that the founder was the advance Sebastián de Belalcázar in 1537 on the site that today is occupied by the population of Yacuanquer and its subsequent transfer to its current situation was carried out by Lorenzo de Aldana when he came to pacify the region in 1539. Other historians mention Pedro de Puelles as the founder who was the first lieutenant governor of the city and the Captain Rodrigo de Ocampo.

Although the historian Emiliano Díaz del Castillo mentions that the settlement took place between February 20 and March 16, 1537 and "foundation" was on August 19, 1537, the Municipal Council of Pasto, for practical reasons , in view of the proximity of the commemoration of the fourth centenary of the foundation, through Agreement No. 30 of August 23, 1938, it resolved to accept June 24 of each year, the day of San Juan Bautista, the patron saint of the city, as the official date of the commemoration.

Already located in the Valle de Atriz, in Valladolid (Spain) on June 17, 1559, the coat of arms was granted to Pasto, in two different royal certificates signed by the princess Doña Juana, sister of King Felipe II and which consists of a silver castle and on the sides four golden lions, under this castle there is a river of blue and white waters that crosses between green trees, a yellow field and green soil and the name of the city as San Juan de Pasto which is still the official.

During the wars of independence, it adopted the realistic cause under the leadership of Agustín Agualongo of indigenous origin, for which, once independence from Spain was obtained and added to its geographical situation, it remained isolated, configuring a conservative, traditionalist and cultural self-absorption attitude. with respect to the rest of the country.

In the 19th century, during one of the civil wars that characterized that period in Colombian history, in 1861 the city was for six months the provisional capital of the Republic by decision of a conservative leader, General Leonardo Canal González, who tried to confront from this city turned into a barracks and symbol of the resistance against radical liberals, to the liberal leader Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.

In 1904 with the creation of the department of Nariño, the city is named its capital.

In 1944, while President Alfonso López Pumarejo was in the city to witness a military parade, Colonel Diógenes Gil, commander of the VII Brigade of the army, took him prisoner at dawn on July 10 as part of an attempt to coup d'etat known as ´´El coup de Pasto´´. The military insurrection failed in less than 48 hours and the following day President López undertook the return to the capital, via Ipiales, to retake command.





San Juan de Pasto is a city in Colombia, capital of the department of Nariño, in addition to being the head of the municipality of Pasto. The city has been the administrative, cultural and religious center of the region since colonial times. It is also known as the Surprise City of Colombia.

As the departmental capital, it houses the headquarters of the Government of Nariño, the Departmental Assembly, the Departmental Court, the Attorney General's Office, and, in general, the headquarters of institutions of State agencies.

The municipality is located in the southwestern part of Colombia, in the middle of the Andes Mountains in the mountainous massif called Ndo de los Pastos and the city is located in the so-called Valle de Atriz, at the foot of the Galeras volcano and is very close to the equator line.

The municipal territory in total has 1,181 km. Of surface of which the urban area is 26.4 km.

Weather

Because the city is in an inter-Andean valley at an altitude of 2,527 meters above sea level and is located at the foot of the Galeras volcano, the precipitation and cloudiness are quite high. The annual average temperature is 13.3 ° C, visibility is 10 km and humidity is 60% to 88%.

In the urban area, the main economic activities are commerce and services with some small industries or micro-enterprises, of which about 50% correspond to artisan manufacturing. The largest companies in Nariño are located in Pasto, and correspond mainly to food products, beverages and furniture manufacturing.

Agricultural and livestock activities predominate in the rural area. On a small scale there is mining activity.

In the urban area, for the development of commercial activity mainly with the neighboring country of Ecuador, there are several shopping centers. The Pasto Chamber of Commerce was established in 1918 and according to its statistical yearbook for 2008 it had 14,066 commercial establishments of which 58.5% were dedicated to the trade and repair of vehicles.





In plastic arts, the city has been the cradle of prominent artists such as painters Issac Santacruz, Carlos Santacruz, Manuel Guerrero Mora and Homero Aguilar, among others whose work is known and appreciated locally, nationally and internationally.

In music, the trio of stringed instruments is traditional that entertains meetings and parties, generally interpreting boleros and Colombian music such as bambucos or corridors. The city is the birthplace of numerous nationally renowned composers such as Doña Maruja Hinestroza de Rosero, author of the corridor ´´El Cafetero´´.

Theaters and auditoriums

The city has some important stages such as the ´´Imperial´´ theater, with classical architecture in U or horseshoe, inaugurated in 1922, with capacity for 500 spectators in its stalls and the four floors of boxes and which was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest of National Character by the National Ministry of Culture in 1998. Since 2000 it is administered by the University of Nariño, which acquired and restored it.

There is also an open-air theater called Agustín Agualongo with an acoustic shell and managed by the mayor's office and small theatrical halls belonging to private schools such as the Maridiaz school, the San Francisco Javier school and the school of the Bethlemitas sisters.

Museums

The main ones are the Banco de la República Gold Museum, the Taminango House-museum and the ´´Juan Lorenzo Lucero´´ museum (Casa Mariana). There is also a museum of the carnival of blacks and whites, where the figures of some first prize-winning floats are exhibited.

Cultural centers

The Banco de la República built and manages the ´´Leopoldo López Álvarez´´ cultural center, which has a library, exhibition rooms, multipurpose rooms and a lobby that is set up for small concerts.

Since 2004 there is the Plaza del Carnaval y la Cultura, built where the city's transport terminal used to be, planned and designed as an urban renewal project but above all to give a stage to the Carnival of Blacks and Whites as its shape is It was conceived to provide the greatest visibility to the spectators of the parades that culminate there.

Crafts

Pastuso wood craftsmen, cabinetmakers and carvers, have been famous since colonial times.

But the most characteristic and original of the cultural and artisan manifestations of the pastusos is the elaboration of carved wooden utensils covered with a resin obtained from the fruit of an Andean jungle bush, called Mopa - Mopa; uses a refined manual technique dating from the pre-Hispanic period, known as Barniz de Pasto. The refinement achieved allows us to obtain utilitarian or decorative objects of great beauty and artistic merit that transcend the artisanal.

Likewise, it is very characteristic of the city the chaff veneer crafts of wooden objects using thin colored vegetable sheets, obtained from cereal straw and with which drawings and figures are made with results similar to those of inlaid or marquetry.

Gastronomy

The representative dishes of the typical gastronomy of San Juan de Pasto (Colombia) are the product of miscegenation, and the expression of the fertility of the lands and the industriousness of the people. The most representative dish is grilled guinea pig; Among the most outstanding desserts, the paila ice cream and the dulce de chilacuán stand out, and amasijos such as quimbolitos and empanadas de añejo.

The main festival is the Carnival of Blacks and Whites, declared a cultural heritage of the nation by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia in April 2002, and on September 30, 2009 added among the lists of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO is celebrated mainly on January 4 (arrival of the Castañeda family), January 5 (black day) and January 6 (white day) of each year, with events and characteristics that make these festivals unique in the country and in the world. Around these dates, over time, other celebrations have been added, always highlighting the characteristic features of the local and regional culture, highlighting the most indigenous and vernacular, becoming an unavoidable reference in the calendar of festivals in Colombia and attracting a considerable number of tourists, for its popular festivals in streets and squares, parades of floats, comparsas and murgas with broad popular participation.

Feast of the Virgin in La Cocha. In the village of El Encano, on February 11 liturgical and festive events are held in honor of the Virgin of Lourdes, who is worshiped in a chapel located on the island ´´La Corota´´ located in Laguna de la Cocha, celebration that includes an attractive nocturnal procession of boats decked out for the occasion.

Feast of the guaguas de pan. Ancestral agrarian festival of the summer solstice and which is celebrated on the day of San Pedro and San Pablo, on June 29, in the townships of Jongovito, Genoy and Obonuco, in which altars with the figures of bread called ´´castillos stand out de guaguas de pan´´ by hosts or partygoers.

The main attraction in the municipality of Pasto is undoubtedly Lake Guamez or La Cocha lagoon, located 27 kilometers from the city of Pasto, 45 minutes by paved road. On the site you can enjoy the landscape, the local cuisine based on the preparation of rainbow trout, sport fishing and boat rides.

For lovers of cultural tourism. In addition to its aforementioned museums, the city offers visitors the artistic wealth of its churches, among which the 18th century Church of San Juan Bautista, the Cathedral, the Church of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, the Church of San Felipe, the Church of San Sebastián or ´´La Panadería´´, Temple of Christ the King, Santiago Apóstol and the Church of San Agustín.

For ecotourism there is the Chimayoy Environmental Center, which in Quillasinga means "to go to meet the sun". Located 4 km from the road that connects San Juan de Pasto with the interior of Colombia, it is a space provided for environmental education, tourism and research and ecological conservation; It has long ecological trails and diverse activities that seek in a methodological way an integration of people and the community with the environment, promoting and strengthening ecological projects.

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