Zipaquirá: Salt Art and Cultural Heritage

Zipaquirá combines underground salt art with colonial architecture and historic squares. If you are looking for a hotel for your stay, you can start by considering which themes will shape your trip. The underground art, the routes through the Catedral de Sal, and the activities at Parque de la Sal offer a different focus from the municipality’s historic buildings and squares.

Underground Salt Art

The Monumental 180 Museum is located 180 meters underground and features 22 relief sculptures. Eleven are on salt walls and eleven on marble blocks; they were created by sculptors from around the world. Their distribution across two different surfaces gives the collection a clear structure. The materials and the sculptors’ international backgrounds are as much a part of its profile as the number of works.

Another way to experience the underground salt landscape is the Stations of the Cross at the Catedral de Sal. The route passes through 14 stations and is 386 meters long. This presents two distinct forms side by side: in the museum, reliefs, materials, and their arrangement are the focus; on the Stations of the Cross, the stations and the route’s length define the experience. On the Ruta del Minero, visitors can break off salt rock in several mines, extract salt, and take it home. Here, the focus is on hands-on activities involving salt.

Trails, Plants, and Movement

The Green Trail in Parque de la Sal includes gardens and native plants. It is suitable for sports activities and visits with pets. The Catedral de Sal complex also has an outdoor climbing wall. Its design is inspired by the ceiba tree and its strength and size; it is one of the tallest outdoor climbing walls in Colombia.

The historic center can also be explored through different themes. The guided Walk Traces of Salt tour takes you through its streets and showcases significant colonial-style buildings. The Sendero de los Zipas is a walking route through the municipality’s cultural heritage, designed to foster knowledge of its origins and identity. While Walk Traces of Salt focuses on architecture, the Sendero centers on the municipality’s cultural heritage.

Architecture and History in the Center

The Estación del Tren, also known as Estación Tres Esquinas, was designed by Alfredo Bazzani in the French Neoclassical style. It was inaugurated on December 8, 1927, and is a National Monument under Decree 0746 of 1996. The Casa de los Virreyes offers a different historical connection: from 1811 to 1816, it served as the seat of the presidential palace of the patriotic government of the United Provinces of New Granada.

The houses in the historic center are distinguished by their decorative balconies. Plaza de los Comuneros is the municipality’s main square; the signing of the Capitulaciones Comuneras is associated with this place. Those interested in architectural history will find different architectural points of reference here, from the French Neoclassical design of the Estación to the colonial character of the houses.

The Plaza and Visitor Information

One description associates Plaza de los Comuneros with farmers’ markets on the first Sunday of each month, where fruit, vegetables, dairy products, and handicrafts from local producers are sold. Check the dates before your visit. A tourist information point is listed at Kiosco Plaza de los Comuneros, with daily opening hours of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Plazoleta del Minero is also listed as a tourist information point. Its hours are listed as 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday and on public holidays. Check the listed hours before your visit.

Discover more destinations: Tocancipa, Cabrera, La Concepcion, Suesca, Cumaca, San Francisco, Guaduas, Cota.

Return to the regional travel guide: Cundinamarca.