Bogotá
The usual place to start discovering Bogotá is the giant concrete Plaza de Bolívar, the heart of the original town. What it lacks in green foliage it makes up for in grandiosity. In the middle of the square is a bronze statue of Simón Bolívar (cast in 1846), the work of Italian artist Pietro Tenerani. This was the city's first public monument.
In the center of the square are flocks of pigeons that dive-bomb anyone within 50m – a hat is a good idea.
0.36 MILES
Bogotá's most famous museum and one of the most fascinating in South America, the Gold Museum contains more than 55,000 pieces of gold and other materials…
0.21 MILES
Even if you've never heard of Fernando Botero, you'll probably recognize some of his highly distinctive paintings of oversized (read: chubby) characters,…
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Built between 1557 and 1621, the Church of San Francisco is Bogotá's oldest surviving church. In the atmospherically dark interior, with its extravagant…
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Conceptualized by celebrated Colombian botanist José Celestino Mutis, the 1803 tower is reputedly the first astronomical observatory built on the…
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Most of Banco de la República's permanent art collection, which features 800 pieces by 250 different artists spread over 16 exhibition halls at two…
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On the south side of Plaza de Bolívar, beyond the Capitolio Nacional and reached via Carreras 8 or 7, this is Colombia's neoclassical presidential…
1.3 MILES
Housed in the expansive, Greek-cross-shaped building called El Panóptico (designed as a prison by English architect Thomas Reed in 1874), the Museo…
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This neoclassical cathedral stands on the site where the first Mass may have been celebrated after Bogotá was founded in 1538 (some historians argue that…
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This small baroque cathedral has more to see than its bigger brother next door, the Catedral Primada, including six large paintings by Gregorio Vásquez.
2. Museo de la Independencia – Casa del Florero
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Just after Napoleon overcame Spain in 1810, local Creole Antonio Morales supposedly came to this late-16th-century home and demanded an ornate vase from…
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On the western side of the plaza, this French-style building is now home to the alcaldía (mayor's office). The building was erected between 1902 and 1905.
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On the southern side of the plaza stands this neoclassical seat of congress. It was begun in 1847 but, due to numerous political uprisings, not completed…
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This neoclassical cathedral stands on the site where the first Mass may have been celebrated after Bogotá was founded in 1538 (some historians argue that…
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On the northern side of the plaza, this massive, rather styleless edifice serves as the seat of the Supreme Court.
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The Jesuits began this iconic church in 1610 and, although opened for worship in 1635, it was not completed until their expulsion in 1767. It was the…
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This museum occupies a one-time Jesuit college and traces the evolution of how religious and portrait art pieces are made, particularly by Colombia's…
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