Welcome to Bogotá, the capital and largest city of Colombia. It lies on a high plateau in the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes, at an average of 2,640 metres above sea level, making it the third highest capital city in the world, with a cool climate all year. The Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founded it in 1538 after conquering the Muisca, the region's indigenous people. Later Simón Bolívar gave the city the name Bogotá to honour the Muisca. Even its airport, El Dorado, is named after a myth. Let's explore.
Monserrate
Photo: Felipe Restrepo Acosta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLook up at the mountain that watches over the city centre: Monserrate, rising to 3,152 metres. At the top stands a 17th century church with a shrine to El Señor Caído, the Fallen Lord. The mountain was already sacred in pre-Columbian times, when the Muisca lived here, and it remains a pilgrim destination. You can ride up by cable car or funicular, or climb on foot, the way pilgrims prefer. Facing west, almost all of Bogotá spreads beneath you, which makes this a favourite spot to watch the sunset over the city.
Gold Museum
Photo: Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsStep into the Gold Museum, one of the most visited sights in Colombia and home to the largest collection of gold artefacts in the world. Pre-Columbian gold and alloys such as tumbaga glitter alongside pottery, stone, shell, wood and textiles, telling of the societies that lived here before the Spanish conquest. For many indigenous groups, gold was not wealth but a sacred metal charged with symbolic and religious meaning. The Spaniards reported that the Inca called gold the sweat of the sun, and silver the tears of the moon.
La Candelaria
Photo: Felipe Restrepo Acosta · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWelcome to La Candelaria, Bogotá's historic old town, where Spanish colonial, baroque and art deco buildings line the streets alongside universities, libraries and museums. This is where the city began. At the spot now called Chorro de Quevedo, once a resting place of the Muisca ruler known as the Zipa, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada is believed to have founded Bogotá on 6 August 1538. The neighbourhood takes its name from the colonial church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria.
Bolívar Square
Photo: Peter Angritt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsYou are now on Bolívar Square, the main square of Bogotá. At its centre stands a statue of Simón Bolívar, sculpted in 1846 by the Italian Pietro Tenerani and the city's very first public monument. In colonial times the square was the stage for circus acts, markets and even bullfights. Turn around slowly: the Palace of Justice stands to the north, the National Capitol to the south, the Primary Cathedral and the Archiepiscopal Palace to the east, and the Liévano Palace, seat of the mayor, to the west.
Botero Museum
Photo: Felipe Restrepo Acosta · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsIn the heart of La Candelaria, the Botero Museum houses mostly works by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero, together with pieces by international artists from his own private collection. Botero was a keen collector from the late 1960s, starting with pre-Columbian pieces and later moving on to colonial art and modern sculpture. Until 1999 his collections were scattered across his homes in New York, Paris, Monte Carlo and Pietrasanta. Today the museum welcomes more than 500,000 visitors a year.
Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá
Photo: Novoaparra · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOur last stop lies near the town of Zipaquirá, 200 metres underground inside a mountain of salt. This is the Salt Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine. The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life and death of Jesus, and its icons and ornaments are carved by hand in the halite rock. It is celebrated as one of the most notable achievements of Colombian architecture. A curious detail: despite its name and the crowds of Sunday visitors, it has no bishop, so it has no official status as a cathedral.
Lomakuume
