National Institute of Cultural Heritage

The National Institute of Cultural Heritage occupies a restored mansion with a facade painted a distinct, bright mustard yellow. This building sits on the street corner as a physical archive for Ecuador's past. Inside, technicians work to catalog thousands of historic objects and protect the country’s archaeological sites from decay or destruction. During a major renovation in the early two thousands, workers discovered original wall paintings hidden beneath decades of white paint, revealing the artistic tastes of the home’s original nineteenth-century occupants.