Topaga

Topaga sits in a coal district and the seams here produce a hard, dense anthracite that takes a polish, so alongside the mining a craft grew of carving it - figures, nativity sets, ornaments and jewellery cut from coal and worked to a black shine, sold from workshops in the village. The church of San Miguel Arcangel holds a gilded wooden altarpiece and pulpit carved in the seventeenth century, elaborate out of all proportion to a village of this size, and a set of paintings; it is generally reckoned among the more remarkable rural church interiors in Boyaca. The village also has a small bridge and plaza. Mining continues in the surrounding hills and shapes the landscape and the local economy.

Background

Tópaga is a town and municipality of Sugamuxi Province in Boyacá, on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. Its urban centre lies at 2,900 metres, while the municipality ranges from 2,400 to 3,200 metres, and the Chicamocha River flows through it. It borders Nobsa and Corrales to the west, Mongua and Gámeza to the east, and Monguí and Sogamoso to the south, and the department capital Tunja is 98 kilometres away. The town was founded on 6 March 1593, and in 2015 it had 3694 inhabitants on 37 square kilometres.

Source: Wikipedia, "Tópaga"

Highlights

• Coal carved into ornaments - polished black, from the local anthracite.
• A gilded seventeenth-century altarpiece - out of scale for the village.
• Workshops selling the carvings - through the village.
• A working mining district - in the surrounding hills.

When to go

Year round. Half a day.

Practical notes

The church is not always open - access may need arranging. The village is small and services are minimal. Mining shapes the surroundings and not attractively in places. There is no interpretation in English.

Nearby

Mongui is east; Sogamoso is west.

Key facts