Culture
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Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture
Monumento a la Raza by Rodrigo Arenas Betancur, located in La Alpujarra Administrative Center
The culture in Medellín is strongly linked to a broader Paisa culture (see next section) whose unique attributes include their Spanish accent, cuisine, and hospitality. Today, Medellín has several cultural attractions for the public including approximately 40 museums, 21 public parks, 28 theaters, and several public libraries. The city also contains several fixtures that have been designated National monuments of Colombia. The city is recognized as a "Design City" by UNESCO.
Most people in Medellín are Catholic, as reflected by Medellín's several churches and religious activities. Among the most representative churches are the Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest cathedral in the world built entirely in baked brick. There is also the Basilica of Our Lady of Candelaria, which was the official cathedral until 1931; the Church of San Ignacio, Baroque on the outside and Colonial on inside; the Church of San José; the Church of San Antonio, which has one of the biggest domes in Colombia; the Church of San José del Poblado, located in the Parque del Poblado where the first European settlement in the Aburrá Valley was founded in 1616; and the Church of Nuestra Señora de Belén. All of these churches have religious art and are located in the center of the city, which facilitates journeys among them.
In December, the city is covered with thousands of fairy lights, creating the famous Alumbrados (Christmas lights), which are considered by the National Geographic as one of the ten most beautiful in the world, and which can be seen mainly on La Playa Avenue and the Medellín River.
Plaza Botero, in the background the Museum of Antioquia
Plaza Mayor is the epicenter of large events and business. By a decree of the municipal government, between 1980 and 1990 all developments or tall buildings necessarily included a sculpture of a famous artist. That is one reason why Medellín has the largest number of sculptures per square kilometer in Colombia.[citation needed]
Furthermore, the city has several festivals and exhibitions year-round. The silletero tradition is also closely tied to the region and is considered a part of Colombian cultural heritage. Since 1957, this tradition has continued in the Silleta Parade that takes place during the annual Festival of the Flowers, where silletas designed with flower arrangements are carried.
Works of many prominent artists, both local and foreign, can be seen on the streets of the city. Some artists who stand out are the masters Rodrigo Arenas Betancur and Fernando Botero.
Paisa culture[edit]
Main article: Paisa region
The inhabitants of Medellín are often called Antioqueños (people of Antioquia) after their province, rather than Medellínenses (people of Medellín) after their city. They are also often known as Paisas, a name which some suggest comes from the coffee growers. The term Paisa comes from the word paisano, meaning "fellow countryman". Paisas make up one of the five different regional cultures within Colombia. In addition to Antioquia, the Paisa region includes the departments of Caldas, Risaralda, Quindio and some towns of Valle del Cauca and Tolima. Although Paisa culture is dominant in Medellín, the so-called "Paisa Capital", the city is becoming more cosmopolitan, now offering music from other regions of Colombia (Vallenato and Chocó), and a variety of restaurants including Chinese, Cuban, and Argentinian.
The Paisa culture has a Spanish background, and is traditionally Catholic, and entrepreneurial.[citation needed] Paisas are said to speak softly and slowly, to smile easily, and to love music, poetry, soccer, bargaining in the markets, and parties. They are proud of their city, and work hard to keep it clean, stemming from the campaign begun in the 1980s, "Depende tambien de ti, darle amor a Medellín" (It depends on you too to give love to Medellín). The Medellín weekend nightlife, in discos, pubs, parks, and certain dedicated streets, is traditionally called rumba.
Festivals and events[edit]
Christmas Lighting on La Playa Avenue in 2011
An example of a silleta at the Festival of the Flowers
Festival of the Flowers is held late July to early August. The Festival, plus many other activities and festivities, is the main axis the Desfile de Silleteros, a colorful and artistic parade of flowers filled saddles on the back for their own grower and already well known internationally.
Christmas lighting in Medellín is a traditional seasonal event where the city hangs millions of Christmas lights and holds light shows and other cultural events. National Geographic ranked Medellín Christmas lights display as one of the top 10 places to see Christmas lights in the world.
International Poetry Festival is an annual congregation of poets, who give at public their poems and readings of a peculiar way mass in parks, auditoriums, neighborhoods and towns near Medellín. This event has been awarded the Right Livelihood Award, the prelude to the Nobel Peace Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation of Sweden, and its aim is to strive for peace through poetry. The XVII International Poetry Festival of Medellín was performed between 14 and 22 July 2007, with the participation of over 80 poets from around 55 nations. [citation needed]
International Tango Festival is an expression of the tango culture that Medellín adopted as their own. This is a legacy of the bard Carlos Gardel, who died in this city in a plane crash in 1935. Among the activities of the Festival highlights the Tangovía, where people took to the streets to dance, listen to tango, milonga and obviously having fun at the behest of culture.
Book and Culture Festival is one of the most important cultural events in Medellín, named itself Festival, rather than Fair, due to its magical atmosphere that revolves around art, books and culture. The Festival is hosted for 10 days at the Botanical Garden in the month of September, and it is held with the participation of both national and international participants and exhibitors from all genres. The Book and Culture Festival is free entry, and aims to promote reading through different workshops. This event is sponsored by the Mayor of Medellín.
Feria internacional del caballo Since 2009 was added to the horse paisa culture the Feria internacional del caballo, held in October, an exhibition with participants from several countries and involving varied horse races.
Bullfighting Festival of La Macarena held every year between January and February.
Museums and other venues[edit]
Medellín has about 40 galleries, which are one of the main attractions of the city. Some of the main museums include the following:
Museum El Castillo
Tomb of Saint Laura Montoya Upegui
San Pedro Cemetery Museum
Museum of Antioquia was the second museum founded in Colombia and the first in the department of Antioquia. It is located at the heart of the old city hall next to Botero Plaza, and houses 187 works of Fernando Botero.
Museum of Modern Art of Medellín (MAMM), founded in 1978, has a valuable collection of contemporary art comprising sculptures, assemblages, paintings, photographs, and prints by local and foreign artists. One of its major attractions is the collection of almost all the works of the Antioquian painter Débora Arango. Another of its main attractions is the projection of cinema-art. It is also headquarters of the International Biennale of Video in September.
University Museum, University of Antioquia, was created in 1942, is located in University City. The area of anthropology exhibits a collection of 18 000 pieces of pre-Columbian pottery, stone, shell, metal and textiles, the second richest in the country, and a complete ethnographic collection. The area of visual arts includes contemporary painting and sculpture, and includes 1200 pieces of contemporary artists. The area of History at the university collects in a thousand pieces and documents the 200 years of existence of the university, and the natural sciences section displays 5400 pieces, including native and exotic stuffed animals, skins for study, minerals and fossils.
Museum El Castillo, built in 1930 in medieval Gothic and open to the public in 1971, has French-style gardens, explosions room, library and concert hall for 250 people. It has permanent exhibits of porcelain and glass, stained glass, music, sculpture, piano and ballet.
Interactive Museum EPM environment is part of Barefoot Park. Receives 1000 visit a day, mostly students. This is an educational tour of 22 rooms spread over four buildings in which, with technological resources and entertaining way, is explained and interacts with the physical principles of water, energy, gas and telecommunications. It is funded and managed by Empresas Públicas de Medellín.
Mineralogy Museum is located in the School of Mines of the National University of Colombia. It has a permanent exhibition of a total of 2778 specimens; its collections are recognized by mineralogists and experts among the best museums in South America.
San Pedro Cemetery Museum was built in 1842, became a museum in 1998 and declared a national monument in 1999. This place is an integral part of cultural and architectural heritage of Medellín. Although it falls under the category of sculpture and architecture works representing the funerary art, the space has begun to emerge as a new venue for artistic dissemination. It has preserved collections of local and national art and, on full moon nights, there are concerts, shows, storytelling, theater and dance. Undoubtedly the most significant are the funerary monuments in memory of prominent figures in national history.
House Museum Master Pedro Nel Gómez was the home of the master Pedro Nel Gómez; it became a museum in 1975 with the donation by the artist and his family of the works in it. It has 1500 works, 200 square meters (2,200 square feet) of fresco painting and an art library with over 500 volumes.
Casa Museo Gardeliana disseminates the culture and history of the tango. It was declared a Cultural Heritage and Historic Monument by the Council of Medellín in 2002. It was founded on 14 February 1973, by the Argentine Leonardo Nieto Jarbon in the neighborhood Manrique, in a simple, traditional house. The tango singer Carlos Gardel met his death in Medellín in accident airplane crash. There has long existed in the city a deep tango culture. Some plaques testify the visit to the house of personalities from politics, entertainment and literature, as the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
Parque Explora is an interactive museum focused on science, technology and many other aspects of knowledge and creativity. It provides, among other attractions, the largest freshwater aquarium in South America that houses fish of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers.
Planetarium of Medellín is located in front of the Parque de Los Deseos. The space includes telescopes and a projection room for 300 people, a dome 17.5 meters (57 feet) in diameter, and permanent exhibitions for all ages on Earth and space. Its services include an auditorium, library and a permanent exhibition on space history.
Other prominent museums are Centro Cultural Banco de la República, Entomological Museum Francisco Luis Gallego, Casa Museo Santa Fe, Museum of Natural Sciences, Ethnographic Museum Miguel Ángel Builes and the Mother Laura Ethnographic Museum.
Public art[edit]
Medellín is well known for having great public art, and there are many buildings that have prominent sculptures outside them. In addition to the sculpture park of Fernando Botero, there are many other sculptural gems by a variety of contemporary and modernist artists scattered around the city. They include works by the artist Hugo Zapata amongst others.
Cuisine[edit]
Bandeja paisa is the representative food of Medellín and Antioquia.
The cuisine of Medellín is again tied to the larger culture of Antioquia. A typical regional dish is the bandeja paisa, meaning the "paisa platter", which usually includes beans, rice, pork cracklings (or "chicharrón"), chorizo, a fried egg, patacónes, salad and avocado. It is traditionally served on a tray slab or wood. It is traditional to consume meals with arepas, which are made with cooked, milled, and mixed corn without further ingredients.
For breakfast, it is common to accompany the food with hot chocolate and possibly a slice of cheese to dunk in the drink. Parva is a traditional component of the Antioquian gastronomy as well. This name is given to a wide variety of sweet and savory baked goods, including pan de queso, pan de bono, buñuelos, and pastries.
Other foods that are typical in the region stem from Colombian food industries, such as Postobón's Colombian soft drinks, the regional aguardiente known as Aguardiente Antioqueño, and Jet chocolate bars.
Creative Tourism[edit]
Medellín has developed its Cultural Tourism through various activities such as cooking workshops, dancing classes or arts and craft. Medellín is an official Creative Tourism City thanks to its cultural richness and its wide array of activities between tradition and innovation.
