Quinta de Bolivar

The house was built in 1800 as a country property outside the city and given to Bolivar in 1820 by the new republic. He used it intermittently between campaigns over the following decade - the total time he actually spent here was modest - and it is furnished to that period with some objects genuinely his. What the museum handles carefully is the end of his political project: the Gran Colombia union he built broke apart, an assassination attempt was made against him in Bogota in 1828, and he left the city in 1830 in poor health and out of power, dying near Santa Marta later that year. The gardens run up the slope with the Monserrate funicular station immediately above.

History

The chaplain of Monserrate sold the land to José Antonio Portocarrero, a Spanish merchant, who built a country house on it; after his death his heirs could not keep it up, and it was badly run down when the newly independent government bought it and gave it to Bolívar in gratitude, restoring it for his use. Between 1820 and 1830 he stayed here briefly whenever he was in Bogotá, and when he left the capital he gave it to his friend José Ignacio París. Through the 19th century it changed hands and served as a health house, a brewery, a tannery and a girls' school, until in 1919 the Colombian Historical Society and the Bogotá Embellishment Society raised money across the country to buy it, and it became a national monument and a museum of the independence period with objects that belonged to Bolívar (Wikipedia, Quinta de Bolívar).

What to look for

• A 1800 country house - given to Bolivar by the republic in 1820.
• Period furnishing - with some objects genuinely his.
• The collapse of Gran Colombia - covered rather than avoided.
• Gardens under Monserrate - with the funicular just above.

When to go

Year round; closed Mondays. An hour and a half.

Things to know

He spent less time here than the museum's prominence suggests. Labelling is largely in Spanish. It closes Mondays. The site is small and combines best with Monserrate above.

Nearby

Monserrate is directly above; La Candelaria is north-west.

Key facts