Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [51]
Just north along Carrera 7 are a couple other interesting churches. The Iglesia de la Veracruz (Map; Calle 16 No 7-19; mass 8am, noon & 6pm) is known as the National Pantheon because many of the heroes of the struggle for independence have been buried here.
Next door is the Iglesia La Tercera (Map; Calle 16 No 7-54; 8am-noon & 2-5pm), with a fine stone facade and lovely wood-carved altars in walnut and cedar set on white walls below a wood-carved ceiling.
MUSEO DE ARTE MODERNO
Opened in the mid-1980s in a spacious hall designed by revered local architect Rogelio Salmona, the Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO; Map; 286 0466; www.mambogota.com, in Spanish; Calle 24 No 6-00; adult/student COP$4000/2000; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat, noon-5pm Sun) 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.
MIRADOR TORRE COLPATRIA
Monserrate offers superb views, but only from the 46th-floor outside deck of the Colpatria Tower (Map; 283 6697; Carrera 7 No 24-89; admission COP$3000; 11am-5pm Sat, Sun & holidays) can you catch a superb view of the bullring, backed by office buildings and the mountains – there are also fine 360° vistas across the city. The 162m-high skyscraper – Colombia’s tallest – was finished in 1979.
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SALMONA TOWN
If you’re lucky enough to go on a city walk with a bogotano, the conversation will invariably lead, at some point, to some red-brick modern building – like the new Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez, parts of the Universidad Nacional, or the National Archives. When you hear ‘This building was built by…,’ stop them right there, and take a guess by whom: Rogelio Salmona?
Colombia’s most famous architect, Salmona helped reshape the cityscape of contemporary Bogotá with red-brick towering buildings with geometric curves and, often, big views. His works are many – including the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Torres del Parque (Map), the residential towers overlooking the bullring in Centro Internacional, where the architect lived till his death, aged 78, in 2007. He also designed García Márquez’ studio in Cartagena.
Salmona – born to French and Spanish parents in Paris – lived and studied in Bogotá most of his life, though he left during the aftermath of the 1948 riots when he helped design the conceptual city Chandigarh, in India, with Le Corbusier.
He told El Tiempo shortly before his death from cancer, ‘Good architecture becomes ruins. Bad architecture disappears.’ His looks to stand a good while longer.
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Speaking of bulls, they seem to like it too. A few locals swear that a loose bull recently ran down Carrera 7 from the ring, into the tower, and knocked over someone stepping off an elevator. Look before exiting.
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Centro Internacional
Business offices look over the Carrera 7 in this busy pocket of the city, where you’ll find a few attractions and lots of business meetings. In January and February, the Plaza de Toros de Santamaria gets crammed with bullfighting fans. It’s just north of the green Parque de la Independencia.
The area’s principal attraction, the Museo Nacional (National Museum; Map; 334 8366; www.museonacional.gov.co, in Spanish; Carrera 7 No 28-66; adult/student COP$3000/2000; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) 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