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La Alpujarra is the administrative center of the city of Medellín and the department of Antioquia. It’s located in El Centro.
Government Complex
The focal point of La Alpujarra is the government complex holding the offices for the city and department. Medellín’s city hall occupies the building to the north, while the government of Antioquia’s offices are in the building to the south.
The buildings are separated by a plaza which is closed on weekends and government holidays. It’s often the scene of public demonstrations, celebrations, and other events.
Monument to the Race
In the center of the plaza is a huge monument sculpted by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt (1919-1995). It’s titled Monument to the Race (Monumento a la Raza) and stands 38m high. The monument is made of bronze and concrete and was sculpted between 1979 and 1986.
Tribute to Doctors Gaviria and Echeverri
Another monument, the Tribute to Doctors Guillermo Gaviria and Gilberto Echeverri (Homenaje a los Doctores Guillermo Gaviria y Gilberto Echeverri), by Salvador Arango, was inaugurated on September 17, 2004.
Gaviria (1962-2003) was the governor of Antioquia and Echeverri (1936-2003) was the peace commissioner of Antioquia. They were kidnapped by FARC guerrillas on April 21, 2002, while conducting a peace walk from Medellín to the municipality of Caicedo. On May 5, 2003, they were murdered in captivity after a failed rescue attempt by the Colombian army.
Liberty Plaza
To the west of La Alpujarra is Liberty Plaza (Plaza de la Libertad), which is a complex containing a park and the Antioquia Civic Center (Centro Cívico de Antioquia).
Antioquia Civic Center
The Antioquia Civic Center is a building on the north side of the plaza, and contain the offices of Teleantioquia, a television station. The building is often referred to as the Teleantioquia Building (Edificio Teleantioquia), and is one of the unique structures of the Medellín skyline.
Monuments
There are a couple of monuments outside the building. One is dedicated to journalists who died performing their jobs.
Another is dedicated to railroad workers who perished during the construction of the Antioquia Railway between 1874 and 1929. The historic railway station is located next to La Alpujarra.
Plaza Mayor
Plaza Mayor is the home of the city’s convention center. It’s located across a busy street from La Alpujarra Administrative Center and to the east of the Medellín River Parks. The main part of the plaza has a building full of decent restaurants on the ground floor.
Nearby is a convention center (Centro de Convenciones), an expo center (Palacio de Exposiciones), and the Metropolitan Theatre (Teatro Metropolitano).
Barefoot Park
Barefoot Park (Parque de los Pies Descalzos) is very near to Plaza Mayor. It was created in 2000. Visitors are encouraged to take off their shoes and walk in the park barefoot. There are sand boxes, fountains, bamboo forests, and small pools to dip your feet.
EPM Building
The EPM Building (Empresas Públicas de Medellín), an “intelligent” building, sits next to the park. It features all of its staircases, elevators, electrical and mechanical parts on the outside to maximize space on the inside.
It’s possible to take a free public tour the building on weekdays. Check the official website for tour times. Tours must be booked in advance.
Water Museum
EPM sponsors the Water Museum (Museo del Agua). It’s located in a building between the EPM building and Plaza Mayor. This museum teaches about the origins, importance, and conservation of the world’s most precious resource and its importance to humankind. It’s dedicated to the conservation of water.
Visiting the Water Museum
The museum is open daily except Mondays and charges an admission of COP$6,000 per person (as of December 2023). Tours last just under two hours and leave about every 15 minutes throughout the day. All tours are in Spanish only.
Tours of the Water Museum
Our tour started by learning about decomposition rates of common items. We then left our handprints and wrote a sentence about how we would help contribute to the environment.
Origins of Water
Next, we rode up an elevator and passed through a corridor where we learned about the creation of our planet. We had a few minutes to use the interactive screens, which contained information about the different eras of Earth’s history.
The tour continued to a room where we learned about the origins of water. We experienced water in its different physical states and read about the effects of the movement of water.
A small room next door contained microscopes. When looking into the microscopes, we were able to see the different types of bacteria and organisms that live in water. Our guide explained the importance of drinking clean water at that point.
Ecosystems
From there, we took a virtual trip through all of Colombia’s different ecosystems. Our guide explained the importance of each ecosystem and how water affected life in each one.
After visiting each ecosystem, we got to see a biosphere. The guide told us how the biosphere functioned, and pointed out the importance of a good balance of water, oxygen, and life forms. We then had a chance to experiment with a virtual biosphere. Every time we increased or decreased the levels of algae, water, sunlight, and organisms, it had a negative effect on life in the biosphere.
Civilizations and Water
The next room was about how water forged different civilizations throughout history. It contained panels with examples of how each civilization distributed water in their cities and towns.
We continued into another room that explained how water is distributed, used, and recycled in Medellín. The entire process was laid out on the floor. We walked to different panels that would light up and show each step, from the origins of water in the mountains to being purified and released into the Medellín River. The cleanup of the river is a major initiative by EPM.
Another room showed some of the waste that was found in the Medellín River, including shopping carts, tires, computer equipment, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and even a car. The adjoining room contained interactive screens where people in different situations (in the kitchen, shower, outdoors, etc.) explained how to conserve water.
The final room, which really didn’t fit in the museum, was about pirates. It had a theme from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
My Thoughts on the Water Museum
Overall, it was well worth the time spent to visit the museum. It’s an especially great place for kids to learn about water, in particular because of the excellent hands-on exhibits. The only drawback for foreign visitors is that it’s all in Spanish.
Barrio Triste
Near the park is a footbridge that crosses a highway. On the other side of the bridge is the neighborhood of Barrio Triste and a nice church built in 1930, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús). Be careful in the neighborhood and don’t linger too much. It’s not considered a safe area.
