Exploring the Sights of Downtown Medellin, Medellin, Colombia

It’s not enough to bring peace to a city, you also need prosperity. So while the transformation of Medellín from no-go drugs capital of Colombia to a safer and more visitable city started in its outlying comunas, the city centre has been vital to its continued development.

I took you to a couple of those communas on a previous Monday Walk, so today I’m inviting you to explore downtown with me. We took a tour with the same guide, Jean, in fact on the morning before that visit.

We started in a plaza surrounded by local government offices in modern blocks. In its centre is a dramatic sculpture, the Monumento a la Raza, the work of Colombian sculptor Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. It was installed in 1988 and celebrates the history of the city and region, Antioquia.

We saw the nearby train station, now no longer in use, and from there walked to the next square, the Parque de las Luces with 300 tall columns, bamboo clusters and the main city library. Jean explained that the square used to hold a large covered market, built after the railway came to the city to encourage commerce. But the market became too crowded and spilled over into neighbouring streets, so the commercial focus of the city shifted slightly. This square was completely overhauled as part of the major redevelopment of the city centre in 2005. Made of concrete and metal, each column contains an illuminated strip. The idea is to create an ‘artificial forest’ providing shade during the day and light at night. The square is now a popular meeting place for locals and hosts street performances and events. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).