Barranquilla [baran kija], capital of the department Atlántico, Colombia, Caribbean coastal lowlands, around 30 km above the mouth of the Magdalena River, (2020) 1.3 million residents.
Archbishopric; several universities (including Universidad del Norte); Museo Romántico, two natural history and anthropological collections. Barranquilla is an important port and industrial city (textile, food and cement industries, metal processing, chemical and pharmaceutical industries); international Airport.
The Carnival of Barranquilla (almost 200 years of tradition) was included in the list of “Masterpieces of Traditional World Culture” by UNESCO; Folk Colombian music combines there with Spanish (colonial times) and African culture.
Cityscape
From the colonial Spanish buildings of the settlements originally called Bocas de Ceniza or Barrancas de San Nicolás from the 17th century in the area of today’s center, hardly anything has been preserved; numerous buildings from the time it was officially declared a city in the mid-19th century were destroyed by fire or urbanization measures. The historic seaport of Puerto Colombia with what was once the longest pier in the world and the old Montoya train station were built at the end of the 19th century. The republican architecture of the 20th century includes the building of the former Banco Comercial (around 1905) and the Jesuit college Biffi (1920, by Brother Ernesto, Luis Gutiérrez de la Hoz, Alfredo Badenes) as well as the representative Edificio de la Aduana (Customs House; 1919–25; since the restoration in 1994, among other things, the seat of the Archivo Histórico del Atlántico and the Museum of Modern Art) and the Banco Dugand (1921; later Edificio de Telekom), both by Leslie Arbouin built in the style of neoclassicism. In the 1920s, several residential areas with parks emerged in the north of Barranquilla, especially El Prado (1918–30, by Karl and Robert Parrish, James F. Harvey and others; today with a zoological garden, various modern shopping centers and others). The Hotel El Prado is considered to be the first tourist hotel in Latin America and was built in the so-called Caribbean style by Manuel Carrerá in 1927–30 built (expanded in 1982 and partly redesigned), which incorporated modern trends in 1935 in the Edificio Avianca and in 1939 in its staircase-like rising apartment complex in the Edificio García. The old sports stadium Romelio Martínez (1932–34, by Cornelissen y Salcedo) is one of the earliest in the country with its wooden roof structure and facade design in the style of Art Deco. The neo-Gothic church of San Nicolás de Tolentino (founded in 1730) on the square of the same name served as a cathedral from 1932–68. The new port facilities with the terminal marítimo were started in 1936. The Edificio Nacional des Centro Cívico (1946–52, by Leopoldo Rother) embodies the rational architectural style of Le Corbusier). The central Plaza Bolívar on the main traffic axis Paseo Bolívar is characterized by the modern high-rise Edificio Caja de Crédito Agrario (1961, by Fernando Martínez Sanabria). The María Reina Cathedral in the Plaza de la Paz (laying of the foundation stone in 1950, construction 1955–82) has colored glass mosaics and inside houses the 16 m high bronze figure of the “Cristo Libertador de América Latina” by Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Important public buildings from the second half of the 20th century are the 1,500 m long Pumarejob Bridge over the Río Magdalena (1970–74), the Amira de la Rosa municipal theater (inaugurated in 1982) and the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez (inaugurated in 1986, the largest Football stadium in Colombia). Barranquilla’s silhouette is dominated by numerous office towers and residential high-rise buildings from the 1960s to 1990s.
Cali
According to Eningbo, Cali, is the capital of the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, 1,014 m above sea level, in the fertile central Cauca Valley (sugar cane cultivation), the third largest city in the country with (2020) 2.2 million residents.
Archbishopric; several universities and museums (including gold museum, museum of modern art, sugar cane museum); Zoological Garden; In the last 30 years, Cali has rapidly developed into the third largest industrial center in Colombia (after Bogotá and Medellín) (food, building materials, machinery, chemical-pharmaceutical industries; large printing plants), and this is associated with the emergence of extensive hut districts (Barrios clandestinos); The illegal drug trade has not yet been eradicated either. Roads and railways lead to Buenaventura, Bogotá and Medellín; international Airport.
Cityscape
Cali’s oldest church, La Merced (1541 ff.), With a gilded baroque high altar (around 1760) and the statues of the Virgin of the city’s patroness, Virgen de los Remedios (end of the 16th century, colored by Angelino Medoro), is one of the few remaining buildings from the colonial era the Virgen de las Mercedes (late 16th century). The neighboring monastery of La Merced houses the archaeological museum and the colonial museum. On a hill west of the center, Garcés de Aguilar builtthe chapel of San Antonio in 1747. The church of the San Francisco Monastery (nave around 1764; 1803-27 in neoclassical style by Pedro de la Cruz Herrera based on plans by Marcelino Pérez de Arroyo extended) has a brick facade and a bell tower (around 1772) with ornaments in the Moorish Mudejar style. The Cathedral of San Pedro (founded in the 16th century; rebuilt in the Baroque style by Antonio García in 1772) in the central Plaza Caycedo was completed in 1842 in the neoclassical style. Today the neo-Gothic church La Ermita (1930s / 1940s) on the main traffic axis Avenida Colombia is the architectural landmark of the city.
The most important secular buildings in the eclectic style of the early 20th century are the Teatro Municipal (1918) built by Rafael Borrero and Francisco Ospina and the Edificio Otero (1923–26) as well as the Palacio Nacional de Justicia (1926–33) built by Joseph Maertens. Modern architecture includes the rationalist station building (1950) and the »Cañaveralejo« bullring (1958). Numerous concrete high-rises have shaped the city center since the 1970s. The 183 m high hotel tower Torre de Cali (completed in 1984) is the tallest building in the city and at the same time one of the tallest hotel buildings in Latin America.
Cali was founded in 1536 under the name Santiago de Cali by the Spanish officer Sebastián de Benalcázar , who was part of Francisco Pizarro’s army.
