South of Ricaurte Province

Photo by Roman Bruehwiler.

South of Ricaurte Province is part of the Tentative list of Colombia in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

South of Ricaurte Province is a mixed region where fossils, archaelogical sites and colonial heritage can be found. It includes Villa de Leyva, one of Colombia’s best preserved colonial towns. Iguaque Flora and Fauna Sanctuary is centered around (sacred) Lake Iguaque.

Map of South of Ricaurte Province

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The coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.

Community Reviews

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Ammon Watkins

Canada - 30-Jun-19 -

South of Ricaurte Province (T) by Watkinstravel

A pretty broad name but perhaps the only one that makes sense for a TWHS whose only real unifying feature is the location. Reading up on the description it sounds like they just threw in everything they could think of for this one from paleontological sites, pre-hispanic sites including an astronomical observatory, a natural sanctuary and several colonial towns. To me that usually means nothing will stand out as being particularly exceptional by itself so we didn't put a lot of effort into this one and just visited the colonial heritage town of Villa de Leyva.

Only 4-5 hours from Bogota and considered one of the most beautiful towns in Colombia, this is a popular, busy tourist site in its own right complete with lots of guesthouses, cafes, souvenir shops and chocolate museums. In addition to the standard but cute 2-story, white-washed and red-tile roof buildings, Villa de Leyva also boasts the largest plaza in the country. The plaza is a large open space once used as the regional distribution centre by the Spaniards so it lacks the usual vegetation and shady benches to laze around on. 

There are a few fossil museums in the immediate vicinity and it is easy to find taxis offering to take you around to visit the other towns and sites in the surrounding area for those wanting a more thorough exploration of all this site entails. 


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Full Name
South of Ricaurte Province
Country
Colombia
Added
2012
Type
Mixed
Categories
Paleontology - Non-hominid fossils Urban landscape - Colonial
Link
By ID
2012 Revision

Includes former TWHS Cultural Landscape of Villa de Leyva (2001)

2012 Added to Tentative List

The site has 7 locations

South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Acabuco (T)
South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Gachantiva (T)
South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Sachica (T)
South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Santa Sofia (T)
South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Sutamarchan (T)
South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Tinjaca (T)
South of Ricaurte Province: Munic of Villa de Leyva (T)
WHS 1997-2024