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 Boyacá
Bridge
An
acknowledged tourist
site on the Teatinos
River, adorned with a
splendid monument in
honor of the Battle of
Boyacá. The battle
that gave the patriots
their victory against
the oppression of the
Spaniards was fought
on Saturday, August 7,
1819. An army of
roughly 2 800 soldiers
under the command of
Generals Simón
Bolívar and Francisco
de Paula Santander
faced the royalist
forces commanded by
José María
Barreriro, who, seeing
that he was losing the
battle, fled to the
capital.
This tourist site has
several attractions:
The monument to
Bolívar, the Freedom
Obelisk, the bridge
over the Teatinos
River, the arch of
triumph inscribed with
the words of the
National Anthem, the
circular building or
Cyclorama, where
slides are projected
that allude to the
heroic deeds in the
battle for freedom,
the British Legion
stone, the bust of
Colonel Cruz Carrillo,
the Square of the
Flags, the tile house
and the monument to
Pedro Pascacio
Martínez.
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 Candelaria
Desert
Seven
kilometers from
Ráquira, the
Candelaria desert is
actually a hollow
through which a small
river flows. There
lies the Monastery of
la Candelaria, built
in 1661 by the
Recollet Augustinian
fathers. The gardens
and corridors of
semicircular arches
resting on stone
columns can still be
visited. It was in
this region that don
Pedro Solís y
Valenzuela penned the
work "El Desierto
Prodigioso" (the
Prodigious Desert),
the first novel to be
written in the
Americas during the
colonial period.
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 Paipa
This
Boyacá town 45
kilometers from Tunja
was founded in 1539 by
don Gonzalo Jiménez
de Quesada. It is
considered to be one
of the department’s
most attractive
tourist sites, for its
thermal springs offer
tourists the choice of
health.
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The
department of Boyacá is situated in the
Eastern Cordillera, in central-eastern
Colombia. The complex topography of the area
gives it a range of temperatures from below
zero to thirty-five degrees centigrade.
Bursting with history, the department has been
the emblem of Colombian culture. The Muiscas
–a pre-Colombian culture that inhabited the
land of the Boyacenses—were already working
the emerald mines before the arrival of the
Spaniards, who chose this site as the
receptacle for their culture and traditions.
The Cundiboyacense plateau, as the region is
also known, is made up of small valleys that
are cultivated today by farmers who grow cold
climate fruits, vegetables and root crops and
raise livestock.
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Access |
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The
city of Tunja, the route’s main axis, can be
reached either by road or by air and is linked
up to all of the rest of the country.
Travelers can fly into nearby towns like
Sogamoso, Quípama, Puerto Boyacá and Paipa,
where small airports operate during the day.
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Tourist Attractions |
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 Tunja
Gonzalo
Suárez Rendón founded Tunja, capital of the
department of Boyacá, in 1539 over the
remains of the Hunza people belonging to the
Muisca culture. The Zaques, considered by the
inhabitants of the territory to have been
children of the Sun, reached their zenith
here.
Tunja conserves structures from that period as
a historical legacy. There are temples,
convents and homes displaying a mixture of the
Gothic, Elizabethan, Romantic, Mudejar and
baroque styles. The mestizo influence
is heavily reflected in the use of the fauna
and flora of the region and of vegetable
paints in those architectural works.
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 Villa
de Leyva
This
town stands as a very good example of the
conservation of colonial architecture in the
country’s interior. It was founded by don
Andrés Díaz Venero de Leyva and declared a
national monument in 1959. This placid and
peaceful town, site of the first Presidency of
the New Kingdom of Granada, later became the
recreation center of viceroys and presidents.
Visitors today can wander its main square and
cobblestone streets, visit the Cloister of the
Barefoot Carmelite Sisters, and enjoy the
sweets of the region or buy hand-embroidered
articles. The town’s hotels can accommodate
events, congresses and conventions four hours
from Bogotá.
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 Sáchica
The
Dominican and Augustinian fathers evangelized
this small town and, finding the climate
comparable to the Mediterranean, started the
cultivation of olive groves in the country.
An example of that evangelization is the
chapel built in the sixteenth century, whose
running balcony communicates with the choir.
Facing the chapel is a stone cross built by
Don Juan del Castillo, father of Sister Josefa
del Castillo.
The multihued hills around the city are the
site of gypsum mines and marble quarries.
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 Cucaita
The town of
Cucaita was colonized and evangelized by the
Dominican Fathers, who cultivated potatoes,
wheat and barley and fashioned articles from
wool and sisal. The most beautiful building in
the town is the seventeenth century
doctrinarian temple. Its baroque belfry sits
atop a Mudejar roof. It possesses an
antechamber leading into the chapel. Its five
altars are sculpted in wood and its pictorial
art shows a large mestizo influence.
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 Ráquira
Known as the
"Town of the Pot-makers", Ráquira
is a land of craftsmen par excellence. Its
ovens are fired up all year round, turning out
vessels and ornaments of clay. One can find
dinnerware, mate cups, figurines and the
well-known "chivas," which are
little cars decorated with animals and fruits
that are very typical of our country.
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