Cinta Costera count down clock will mark Balboa discovery

A large clock with a count down mechanism will be installed next September on the Cinta Costera as part of the events leading up to the celebration of the fifth centenary of the European  discovery of the South Sea.

Alexis Pineda-Roth, executive director of the anniverary commission, said the design of the clock includes two sculptures by Panamanian artist Marco Lee Rueda.

The $50,000 cost will be funded by Tocumen International Airport.
Juan Carlos Pino, general manager of the airport terminal, said that the principal of the two sculptures of Lee Rueda would be eight and a half meters high and four meters wide.
In the center of the piece there will be a countdown clock to the anniversary day of the discovery by Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Tthe secondary sculpture will be shaped like a fish.
In addition to the installation of the clock on the coastal strip, the national commission chaired by the Office of the First Lady is developing an agenda of cultural and academic events to celebrate the arrival of  Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and the event will be used as the theme this year of the National Speech Contest organized by the Ministry of Education. Education authorities are planning an essay contest focused on the same topic, Pineda-Roth said.
The commission is also importing a replica of the font where Balboa was baptized This structure will be installed in January 2013 at the Museum of Colonial Religious Art in San Felipe currently under repair.
The original of the piece is in the church of San Bartolomé, in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain.
The money for the copy will come from the Panamanian government. A Spanish newspaper report says the restoration will cost 40,000 euros ($49,600).