Universidad de Antioquia is the oldest and most prestigious public institution of higher education in Medellín and among the leading research-based universities in Colombia. Since its foundation in 1803, famous poets, writers, artists, scientists, doctors, engineers and political figures have walked the halls of Universidad de Antioquia. The university’s main campus, itself an Architectural Heritage [...]
Plazuela San Ignacio
Plazuela San Ignacio has been a historical centerpiece in Medellín for many decades. Plazuela San Ignacio is flanked by beautiful historical buildings, including Iglesia San Ignacio, Claustro San Ignacio and the original head office of Universidad de Antioquia, Edificio San Ignacio. Lined with centuries-old ceiba trees, Plazuela San Ignacio is also a thriving centre for recreational [...]
Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia
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 had for so long been stigmatised by extreme poverty, violence and tragic accounts of people who would compete with vultures [...]
Unidad Deportiva Atanasio Girardot
Unidad Deportiva Atanasio Girardot is a 493,000 sq ft sports complex administered by INDER and considered one of the best of its kind in Latin America. The complex is named after Atanasio Girardot (1791–1813), a Colombian revolutionary leader who fought alongside Simón Bolívar to help liberate much of Latin America from the Spanish Empire. The [...]
Casa Tres Patios
Casa Tres Patios is a non-profit organization which stimulates Medellín’s contemporary arts scene by providing living and exhibition spaces for artists. Its focus is to question the nature of art, culture and contemporary society through experimental and interdisciplinary projects which blur the lines between traditional art and new media, architecture, urban design, industrial design or [...]
Parque Temático Hacienda Napoles
Parque Temático Hacienda Napoles is the former ranch of Pablo Escobar where he conducted business, entertained guests and drowned his enemies in the pool. At the height of Escobar’s powers, Hacienda Nápoles oozed the type of extravagance matched only by Elvis Presley’s Graceland or Michael Jackson’s Neverland. Among its attractions were a zoo with animals [...]
Pablo Escobar’s Grave
As Pablo Escobar once said, “Better a grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the US”. And so, after escaping his luxury La Catedral prison, the hunt for Escobar began. A special Colombian police task force, known as the Search Bloc, a vigilante group known as Los Pepes (People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar), [...]
La Catedral Prison
La Catedral served as Pablo Escobar’s own luxurious prison overlooking Medellín. When Pablo Escobar assassinated Luis Carlos Galán, a presidential candidate who moved against the drug cartels, he was removed as a member of the Colombian House of Representatives. Escobar had previously sought membership of Colombia’s House of Representatives in order to avoid being extradited [...]
La Dany
Every Sunday in Parque Bolivar, following evening mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral, up to 300 people wait in anticipation for, La Dany the transvestite. La Dany’s vulgar and spontaneous show has a loose format, which she often abandons to interact with and insult the eager audience. During her improvised monologue, La Dany fights with her [...]
Teatro Lido
Established in 1945, Teatro Lido has staged artistic and cultural performances for almost 70 years and is like a respected war veteran in Medellín’s theatre scene. Teatro Lido has had its own trials and tribulations through the years and even closed in the 1990s due to a lack of funding and security problems. But, it [...]
