Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia is a cultural and educational hub.
Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia (Cultural Development Centre of Moravia) emerged as part of a general economic renaissance in the north of Medellin in 2007.
Despite being in the heart of the city, Moravia has for so long been stigmatised by extreme poverty, violence and tragic accounts of people who compete with vultures to find food among heaps of rubbish.
But, in 2007, the enormous and long-overdue social debt owed to citizens of Moravia by the Colombian state began to be paid back and the neighbourhood previously synonymous with garbage began to resonate with culture.
Designed by the famous Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona, who sadly died one month before its inauguration, Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia is a cultural and educational hub in the heart of the neighbourhood.
The centre includes facilities for music, theatre, cinema, dance, art and even has its own auditorium with a capacity for 370 people. There’s also a space devoted to recuperating and preserving the transformation of Moravia through photos and video.
But, while its tempting to conclude that what was once cited as the most dangerous neighbourhood – in the world’s most dangerous city – may now prove to be Medellín’s ultimate symbol of transformation – it’s also clear that the Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia cannot give dignity to Moravia‘s residents by itself.
And although the project is backed by some powerful names in Colombia’s industry, among others epm who monopolise Medellín’s energy and water services, it’s notable that many residents still live without electricity and water on a permanent basis because they can’t pay their bills.
Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia
Cra. 52 sobre quebrada La Bermejala, Moravia
(+57 4) 511 3860
