CITY OF QUITO - MODEL
The idea of building the Quito City Model underwent a long process from conception to development.
In 1963 Guido Falcony traveled to the United States where he lived for 15 years, and during that time he studied art, painting, graphic design, advertising, photography, and cinematography.
In 1964 there was a World's Fair in New York, where they exhibited the model of this city, which was built by 300 artists over 4 years. This motivated him to build the model of Colonial Quito someday.
In 1977 he returned to live in Quito and then, in 1978, UNESCO named the city as the first Cultural Heritage of Humanity in the world, national pride for all Ecuadorians. It was then that he saw the reality of his life, to build his greatest dream, the Historic Center of Quito in miniature.
The construction of the model of a colonial city is very complicated since there is no precise information about its architectural structure, making it necessary to create a practical system to reproduce the specific characteristics of each house and other architectural elements. To this effect he decided to photograph house by house in order to draw, paint and reproduce all the details on a special cardboard, cut them out and paste them on a wooden box. This was to maintain the topographical features of each block and install an electrical system to place bulbs and 12 volt transformers in order to imitate the sunset, block by block, resulting in a total of 110 blocks. This miniature Quito measures approximately 40 square meters and is made in 1:200 scale.
Initially, this entire project was carried out over a period of 8 years, which covered the oldest limit of the city. However, he has continued to build over 10 blocks more, which are in storage until he can expand the showroom.
The exhibition includes a clear and precise explanation of the architectural and historical aspects of the city, set to the background of our Quiteño music. A visit to this museum (MiniCity) is unique and different, as the construction of the model, since its very beginning, was thought and planned in depth so that visitors, children and adults, locals and foreigners, may be happy and satisfied to thoroughly learn about our wonderful "Centro Histórico" (Historical Center).
