Ciudad de Quito
Pack of souvenir playing cards made in Quito, Ecuador, featuring black & white photographs depicting Ecuador as one of the great nations on Earth
Souvenir of Quito, Ecuador
Naipe Ciudad de Quito published by Grijalva y Compañia, Ecuador.
A pack of souvenir playing cards made in Quito, Ecuador, featuring black & white photographs depicting Ecuador as one of the great nations on Earth. The box states that Babylon may have had great walls, Athens men of letters, Constantinople a great empire... but Quito holds the key to Christianity and the source of the river Amazon. The photographs show a wealth of Spanish colonial buildings, churches, statues, large modern cities containing government buildings, hotels, banks, museums, fountains, etc., including an astronomical observatory but no indigenous, Quitus, Cara or pre-Columbian art. The backs show the coat-of-arms of Quito surrounded by four busts of historic persons.
Above: Naipe Ciudad de Quito published by Grijalva y Compañia, Ecuador.. 52 cards + 2 Jokers + 4 extra cards in box. Curiously the pack makes little reference to Ecuador's pre-Columbian or Inca history, except for the design on the backs of the cards, preferring instead to depict the nation in terms of modern cityscapes and past colonial grandeur. The backs of the cards show the arms of Quito surrounded by two pre-Columbian chiefs (possibly Atahualpa and Rumiñahui, Inca chiefs) along with Sebastián de Belalcázar and a fourth European conqueror.
By Simon Wintle
Spain • Member since February 01, 1996
I am the founder of The World of Playing Cards (est. 1996), a website dedicated to the history, artistry and cultural significance of playing cards and tarot. Over the years I have researched various areas of the subject, acquired and traded collections and contributed as a committee member of the IPCS and graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal. Having lived in Chile, England, Wales, and now Spain, these experiences have shaped my work and passion for playing cards. Amongst my achievements is producing a limited-edition replica of a 17th-century English pack using woodblocks and stencils—a labour of love. Today, the World of Playing Cards is a global collaborative project, with my son Adam serving as the technical driving force behind its development. His innovative efforts have helped shape the site into the thriving hub it is today. You are warmly invited to become a contributor and share your enthusiasm.
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