Las Bóvedas, Colonial fortification in Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama

Las Bóvedas is a colonial fortification in Casco Viejo composed of seven vaulted stone chambers arranged along a waterfront promenade between two plazas. The structure features thick masonry walls and arched passages that create shaded walkways with views of the bay.

The site was first intended for the Royal Houses but became the Baluarte de Chiriquí, a defensive bastion. The vaulted chambers were built in the 18th century, and a parapet walkway was added above them in the 19th century. The thick walls later served as barracks, prison, storage and dormitories; Victoriano Lorenzo was executed in front of the adjacent square on 15 May 1903. The complex was declared a national monument by Law No. 2 of 8 January 1920, and the square and walls were restored in 1983.

The name comes from the seven vaulted chambers, built on arches resting on columns. The vaults now hold the offices of the Oficina del Casco Antiguo, a gallery of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura and a French restaurant. Behind the plaza a semicircular gallery displays ten marble plaques, each 10 feet high and 6 feet wide, engraved with the history of the Panama Canal; one bears the relief portrait of the Cuban doctor Carlos J. Finlay, thanked for identifying the transmitter of yellow fever.

The Paseo Esteban Huertas runs along the adarve built over the vaults, with side benches and a bougainvillea garden along its length. It ends in an open space where a stairway leads down to the Plaza de Francia. The vaulted chambers below now hold the Oficina del Casco Antiguo, a National Institute of Culture gallery and a French restaurant.

The walkway on the vaults was renamed Paseo Esteban Huertas in 1944 after the Colombian general who backed Panama's separation from Colombia. It runs as a hanging garden of bougainvillea with benches along its length, ending at a stairway down to Plaza de Francia.