Pueblito Boyacense

The project was built in the 1990s as a housing development that would reproduce the architecture of six towns of Boyaca - Villa de Leyva, El Cocuy, Monguí, Ráquira, Tibasosa and Sáchica - each in its own quarter with the whitewash, stonework, balconies and paving of the original. What makes it worth a stop rather than dismissing as a theme park is that it is genuinely residential: people live in the houses, and shops, restaurants and craft workshops operate in them, so it functions as a neighbourhood that happens to be a copy. Whether it works as architecture divides opinion locally. It is compact, walkable in an hour, and free to enter, with the real towns it copies all within a couple of hours' drive.

Highlights

• Six Boyaca towns reproduced - each in its own quarter.
• A residential neighbourhood - people live in the houses.
• Shops and workshops in the buildings - not a closed exhibit.
• The originals within driving distance - Villa de Leyva, Mongui and the rest.

When to go

Year round; evenings when it is lit. An hour and a half.

Practical notes

It is a replica and reads as one - the originals are better and not far. It is small and quickly walked. Facilities are limited. Opinions locally are mixed about whether it was worth building.

Nearby

Duitama is north; Mongui and Sogamoso are east.