Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca

Cuenca wears its Spanish planning pedigree openly: founded in 1557 under the strict urban ordinances of Charles V, the Ecuadorian city has kept its orthogonal grid for more than four centuries. Ringed by Andean mountains in the country's south, it grew rich in the 19th century exporting quinine and straw hats, dressing its 18th-century fabric in prosperous republican facades. UNESCO inscribed the historic centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca as a World Heritage Site in 1999.