inside the dome of the Salt Cathedral
a nice salt sculptured angel
one of the 14 crosses
in the mine the salt attacks everything
at the entrance of the salt mine there is a statue to honor the miners
the City Hall
an other cathedral, this one sits on city square
Zipaquira from above
the Rosary Chapel
Zipaquira is a city an hours drive North of Bogota. Its main attraction is the Salt Cathedral from 1954, build in the tunnels
of an old saltmine.
Some of the nicely illumined features are the Stations of the Cross,
the Rosary Chapel and a real Cathedral,
all carved out in the abundant halite rock salt deposits.
Zapaquira was founded in 1600 and still sports some nice colonial buildings.
But
its history goes back well before the Spanish conquest, with the Muisca people mining salt here more then 2500 years ago. Earliest
signs of human presence are from 12400 years ago.
We visited Zipaquira in January 2009.
on our way to Zipaquira we spot a farmer herding his cows along the railroad
preparations for dinner
a peak at the Cathedral from above
the lighting is colorful
one of the busy pedestrian streets
we visited the mine just in time, it is getting crowded
