Plaza Botero, Museo de Antioquia and Palacio de la Cultura Guide

Step off the elevated train at Parque Berrío Station on Metro Line A and walk one block north to enter the artistic and architectural core of Medellín: the 7,000-square-metre open-air sculpture park of Plaza Botero, framed on the west by the 1937 Art Deco Museo de Antioquia and on the northeast by the black-and-white Neo-Gothic Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe Uribe.

1. Plaza Botero and the 23 Monumental Bronzes (2002)

Born in Medellín on 19 April 1932, painter and sculptor Fernando Botero Angulo (1932 to 2023) became Colombia's most celebrated visual artist through his signature style of "Boterismo", which uses exaggerated, sensuous volume to celebrate form, humour, and gentle satire. In 2002, as part of the civic revitalisation of downtown La Candelaria, Botero donated 23 monumental dark-patinated bronze sculptures cast at the spreadsheets of Pietrasanta in Italy to stand permanently in the public square facing the museum.

• Highlights on the Plaza: Walk among Hombre a Caballo (Man on Horseback), Caballo con Bridas, Mujer con Espejo (Woman with Mirror), Maternidad, Soldado Romano, Adán and Eva, La Mano, Perro, and Gato, whose polished golden noses, knees, and hands gleam where visitors touch them for good luck.
• The Two Birds of Peace at Parque San Antonio: Four blocks south at Parque San Antonio stand Botero's most poignant public works: the mangled bronze shell of El Pájaro, blown apart by a terrorist bomb during a street concert on 10 June 1995, beside which Botero placed an identical intact twin in 2000 titled El Pájaro de la Paz (The Bird of Peace) so the city would never forget either the tragedy or its resilience.

2. Inside the Museo de Antioquia (Founded 1881)

Founded on 29 November 1881 as the Museo y Biblioteca de Zea (making it the second-oldest museum in Colombia after the National Museum in Bogotá), the Museo de Antioquia moved in 2000 into the restored 1937 Art Deco Municipal Palace designed by architect Martín Rodríguez. Across three floors wrapped around interior garden courtyards, the collection includes:

1. The Botero Donation (Third Floor): Twelve dedicated galleries housing 118 paintings, drawings, and indoor sculptures by Fernando Botero, including his famous 1999 canvas La Muerte de Pablo Escobar and pieces from his private collection of international masters (Picasso, Chagall, Henry Moore).
2. The Pedro Nel Gómez Murals: Monumental 1930s social-realist frescoes painted directly onto the walls of the former Mayor's chambers by Antioquian muralist Pedro Nel Gómez (1899 to 1984) depicting coffee harvesters, gold panners, and bare-footed miners.

3. Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe Uribe (1925 to 1937)

At the northeastern corner of Plaza Botero rises the unmistakable checkerboard facade of the Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe Uribe. Designed in Flemish Neo-Gothic Revival style by Belgian architect Agustín Goovaerts to serve as the Gobernación de Antioquia, its interior features vaulted cloister galleries, historical archives, and an upper rooftop terrace dome offering free views directly down over Plaza Botero; check the official museum site for current opening hours.