ABSTRACT
In 1978 UNESCO declared the historic center of Quito a World Cultural Heritage of Humanity, thus recognizing its cultural and historic value, in particular the fact that it represents the largest historic city center in Latin America. The history serves to construct a stereotyping spectacle, in which heritage acts as scenario and political discourse for the legitimization of a specific type of hegemony. FONSAL imposed the monumentalist interpretive concept and its conservationist notion of heritage politics, taking the condition of buildings as main point of reference and functionalizing historiography, stipulated by historians coming from the local elites. The conflicts surrounding Quito's historic center also epitomize many of the symbolic elements from the various social groups in search of their 'ideal' city and the construction of an 'urban identity' based on it. Boosting tourism is an explicit aim of the politics of renovation. Therefore, a heritage discourse emerged that was structured along the lines of strategic city marketing.
