Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [48]
Across the street, and filling the gorgeous one-time home of Simón Bolívar’s mistress Manuelita Sáenz, the simple Museo de Trajes Regionales (Museum of Regional Clothing; Map; 282 6531; www.uamerica.edu.co/museo/museo.html, in Spanish; Calle 10 No 6-18; adult/student COP$2000/1500; 10am-4:30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat) 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).
Around the corner at Carrera 6, the Museo de Arte Colonial (Museum of Colonial Art; Map; 341 6017; Carrera 6 No 9-77; adult/student COP$2000/1500; 9am-5pm Tue-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) 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.
Another block north, on the south side of the street, you’ll see the massive edifice of Palacio de San Carlos (Map; Calle 10 No 5-51), 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.
Across the street, admire the facade of the Italian-style Teatro Colón, which has had various names since its birth in 1792. This latest version you see opened as Teatro Nacional in 1892 and was designed by Italian architect Pietro Cantini. Its lavish interiors are undergoing a long renovation that – apparently – will be done sometime in 2010 (though some staff we talked to doubt it). Normally, concerts, opera and ballet are performed here, and day-time tours are on offer.
Another block east, the two-floor Museo Militar (Military Museum; Map; 281 2548; Calle 10 No 4-92; admission free; 9am-4:30pm Tue-Sun) 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 courtyard of artillery and aircraft including a presidential helicopter.
SOUTH OF PLAZA DE BOLÍVAR
Beyond the Capitolio Nacional, reached via Carreras 8 or 7, on the south side of Plaza de Bolívar, is Colombia’s presidential building, the neoclassical Casa de Nariño (Map), erected at the beginning of the 20th century. President Uribe lives and works here. It’s named for Antonio Nariño, a colonial figure with ideas of independence and who secretly translated France’s human rights laws into Spanish – and went to jail for it, a couple of times. In 1948 the building was damaged during the Bogotazo riots and only restored in 1979. It’s theoretically possible to visit if you plan a week ahead. Ask a PIT information office for help.
You don’t need permission to watch the changing of the presidential guard – best seen from the east side – which is held at 4pm on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Facing the palace from the west (on Carrera 8) is one of Bogotá’s most richly decorated churches, the Iglesia Museo de Santa Clara (Map; 337 6762; www.museoscolombianos.gov.co; Carrera 8 No 8-91; adult/student COP$2000/1500; 9am-5pm Tue-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun), 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