Sights in Bogotá
-
A
Museo Histórico Policia
The surprisingly worthwhile Museo Histórico Policia not only gets you inside the lovely ex-HQ (built in 1923) of Bogotá’s police force, but gives you 45 minutes or so of contact time with 18-year-old, English-speaking local guides who are serving a one-year compulsory service with the police (interesting tales to be heard). The best parts otherwise follow cocaine-kingpin Pablo Escobar’s demise in 1993 – with a model dummy of his bullet-ridden corpse – or the surreal juxtaposition of a Neanderthal-fight mural before cases and cases of more modern means of killing each other (pistols and rifles).
reviewed
-
B
Plaza de Bolívar
The usual place to start discovering Bogotá is Plaza de Bolívar, the heart of the original town. In the middle of the square is a bronze statue of Simón Bolívar (cast in 1846), the work of an Italian artist, Pietro Tenerani. This was the first public monument erected in the city.
In the center, beside the 1846 bronze statue of Bolívar (of course), are flocks of pigeons that dive-bomb anyone within 50m of the square - a hat is a good idea.
reviewed
-
C
Museo Nacional
Museo Nacional, Centro Internacional's principal attraction, is housed in the expansive, Greek cross–shaped building called El Panóptico, designed as a prison by English architect Thomas Reed in 1874. Walking through the (more or less) chronological display of Colombia’s past, you pass iron-bar doors into white-walled halls.
reviewed
-
D
Catedral Primada
The Plaza de Bolívar's dominating building, facing from the northeast corner, is the neoclassical Catedral Primada, which stands on the site where the first mass may have been celebrated after Bogotá had been founded in 1538 (some historians argue it happened at Plazoleta del Chorro de Quevedo, just east). Either way, it’s Bogotá’s largest. The original simple thatched chapel was replaced by a more substantial building in 1556–65, which later collapsed due to poor foundations. In 1572 the third church went up, but the earthquake of 1785 reduced it to ruins. Only in 1807 was the massive building – that stands to this day – initiated and it was successfully completed by 18…
reviewed
-
E
Museo Botero
Past a fountain-filled courtyard and small store of Botero-themed wares is the location’s highlight, the Museo Botero. Set over two floors at the front of the building here are several halls dedicated to all things chubby: hands, oranges, women, mustached men, children, birds, violins, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) leaders – all, of course, the robust paintings and sculptures of Colombia’s most famous artist, Fernando Botero. (Botero himself donated these works.) The collection also includes several works by Picasso, Chagall, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro and Miró, and hilarious sculptures by Dalí and Max Ernst.
reviewed
-
F
Museo de Arte Colonial
Around the corner at Carrera 6, the Museo de Arte Colonial occupies a one-time Jesuit college and does a nice job of tracing the evolution of how religious and portrait art pieces are made, particularly by Colombia’s favorite Baroque artist Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos (1638–1711). Its upstairs exhibits begin with a messy gallery space (eg trial sketches on walls) and lead into a hall with sketch pieces and a couple of dozen (finished) Vásquez works from the museum’s collection of nearly 200 by the artist. Downstairs exhibits focus on religious artifacts.
reviewed
-
G
Museo del Siglo XIX
Nearby the observatory, the fun Museo del Siglo XIX offers a look inside something other than Spanish colonial Bogotá. The museum fills a former Repúblicano-style home built intentionally in English and French styles in two swoops (in 1850 and 1880). A visit takes in a sample of 19th-century capital life, with a refashioned pharmacy, corsets galore, and an alldecked-out parlor with a secret chamber and porcelain spit jars. Don’t miss the 3000-piece toy doll collection, the culmination of six decades of collection by a couple of local señoras.
reviewed
-
H
Iglesia Museo de Santa Clara
Facing the palace from the west (on Carrera 8) is one of Bogotá’s most richly decorated churches, the Iglesia Museo de Santa Clara, now run by the government as a museum. Considering all the other same-era churches that can be seen for free, many visitors pass on this one, but it is a stunner. Built between 1629 and 1674, the single-nave construction features a barrel vault coated in golden floral motifs looking down over walls entirely covered in paintings (98 not including the closed-off loft, by our count) and statues of saints.
reviewed
-
I
Palacio de Justicia
the Palacio de Justicia is a massive, rather styleless edifice serving as the seat of the Supreme Court. The Palace of Justice has had quite a tragic history. The first court building, erected in 1921 on the corner of Calle 11 and Carrera 6, was burnt down by a mob during El Bogotazo in April 1948. A modern building was then constructed on Plaza de Bolívar, but in 1985 it was taken by M-19 guerrillas and gutted by fire in a fierce 28-hour offensive by the army in an attempt to reclaim it.
reviewed
-
J
Church of San Francisco
Built between 1557 and 1621, the Church of San Francisco, just west of the Gold Museum, is Bogotá’s oldest surviving church. Of particular interest is the extraordinary 17th-century gilded main altarpiece, which is Bogotá’s largest and most elaborate piece of art of its kind. It’s hard to get a close look, as masses run nearly hourly all day. It’s less intrusive to look up at the green-and-gold Mudejar ornamentation of the ceiling under the organ loft.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Museo del 20 de Julio
The late-16th-century home that houses the Museo del 20 de Julio marks the spot where a ‘broken vase was heard around the world.’ Apparently. Just after Napoleon overcame Spain in 1810, a local Creole Antonio Morales came here, according to the story, and demanded an ornate vase from its Spanish owner José González Llorentes, which led to a fistfight on the street (plus one shattered vase, and some hurt feelings) – eventually spurring a rebellion.
reviewed
-
L
Palacio de San Carlos
A block north, on the south side of Calle 10 is the massive edifice of Palacio de San Carlos, which has seen a few lives, notably as the presidential HQ of Simón Bolívar, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt here in 1828, when his friend-with-privileges Manuelita Sáenz tipped him off and became known in Bogotá circles as ‘the liberator of the liberator.’ A (dramatically worded) sign in Latin under his window (to the right) retells it.
reviewed
-
M
Museo Arqueológico
A couple of blocks east of Museo del Siglo XIX, the Museo Arqueológico is a quirky, not quite fully realized survey of pre-Columbian groups through pottery pieces from around the country. Perhaps best is the building, a lovely 17th-century townhouse that seems almost surprised with its latest incarnation. Signs are subtitled in English, and a timeline charts back from 1492, including early groups like Ilama (from 700BC).
reviewed
-
Plazoleta del Chorro Quevedo
No one agrees exactly where Bogotá was originally founded – some say by the Catedral Primada on the Plaza de Bolívar, others say here, in this wee plaza lined with cafes, a small white church and many boho street vendors (or hacky-sack players). It’s a cute spot any time of day, but particularly as dark comes – and students pour onto the scene – in the narrow funnel-like alley leading past pocket-sized bars just north.
reviewed
-
N
Iglesia de San Ignacio
The Iglesia de San Ignacio, on the south side of Calle 10, was begun by the Jesuits in 1610 and, although opened for worship in 1635, it was not completed until their expulsion in 1767. It was the largest church during colonial times and perhaps the most magnificent. It’s undergoing a long-winded renovation. Hopefully, when it reopens, visitors should be able to see one of the city’s most richly decorated churches.
reviewed
-
O
Iglesia de Santa Clara
Today open as a museum, the Church of Santa Clara is probably the most representative of Bogotá's colonial churches. Built between 1629 and 1674 as a part of the Poor Clares Convent, the church is a single-nave construction topped with a barrel vault painted with floral motifs. The walls are entirely covered with paintings (more than 100 of them), statues of saints and altarpieces, all dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
reviewed
-
P
Museo de Trajes Regionales
Across Calle 10, and filling the gorgeous one-time home of Simón Bolívar’s mistress Manuelita Sáenz, the simple Museo de Trajes Regionales displays colorful Spanish and pre-Columbian fashions neatly tagged with photos of models playfully posing in them. The museum also hosts some interesting courses; at last pass, courses to learn to make plastic figurines met 2pm to 5pm Thursday (one month course, COP$20,000).
reviewed
-
Maloka
A kilometer south of the gardens, and a short walk from the bus station in the planned neighborhood of La Salistre, Maloka is a kid-oriented interactive center of science and technology. Lots of kids in uniform amble about the eight rooms – using physics to lift a car, or playing in the life-sized toy-block park. There’s also a high-tech Cine Domo cinema, which plays 40-minute films on a huge dome-ceiling.
reviewed
-
Q
Quinta de Bolívar
About 250m downhill to the west, the lovely Quinta de Bolívar is set in a garden at the foot of the Cerro de Monserrate. The mansion was built in 1800 and donated to Simón Bolívar in 1820 in gratitude for his liberating services. Bolívar spent 423 days here over nine years. Its rooms are filled with period pieces, including Bolívar’s sword. Less is said about its later days as a mental institution.
reviewed
-
R
Museo Militar
The two-floor Museo Militar is run by military guys in fatigues, and may be interesting to some for its playful models sporting the history of military uniforms (note the ‘anti-terrorist’ outfit), a delirious ‘Conquest of Space’ exhibit of floating gods and Wright Brothers’-type contraptions in a sea of stars, and a courtyard of artillery and aircraft, including a presidential helicopter.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
S
Casa de Moneda
At the west end of the block is the historic Casa de Moneda, which now houses the Colección Numismática in most of its front two floors. The exhibits (with a bit of English) start with pre-Columbian exchanges of pots and lead chronologically to misshapen coins, the introduction of a centralized bank in 1880 and how the cute tree art on the current 500-peso coin was made in the late 1990s.
reviewed
-
T
Museum of Modern Art
Opened in the mid-1980s in a spacious hall designed by a revered local architect, Rogelio Salmona, the Museum of Modern Art focuses on various forms of visual arts (painting, sculpture, photography, video) from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Exhibits change frequently, often highlighting Latin America artists. The cinema here screens about four films daily.
reviewed
-
U
Observatorio Astronómico
Between the Capitolio and the Casa are spacious formal grounds where the change of the presidential guard is held on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. On the western edge of the grounds is the Observatorio Astronómico, commissioned by José Celestino Mutis and constructed in 1803. This is reputedly the first astronomical observatory built on the continent.
reviewed
-
V
Jardín Botánico José Celestino Mutis
West of the Parque Simón Bolívar (reachable by foot via a pedestrian bridge over busy Av 68, then past the El Salitre sports complex), the Jardín Botánico José Celestino Mutis has a variety of national flora from different climatic zones, some in gardens and others in greenhouses. Airport-bound buses along Autopista El Dorado pass by near the gardens.
reviewed
-
W
Capilla del Sagrario
The Sagrario Chapel, on the same side of the plaza as the Catedral Primada, was built in the second half of the 17th century and has preserved its mannerist-baroque facade, which is considered to be one of the best examples of arquitectura santafereña. The chapel boasts a Mudejar vault and six large paintings by Gregorio Vásquez.
reviewed
