Guadalupe Hill

Guadalupe Hill is a high hill located in the Eastern Hills, uphill from the centre of Bogotá, Colombia. Together with its neighbouring hill Monserrate it is one of the landmarks of Bogotá. At the top of the hill a hermitage and a high statue has been erected. The statue was elaborated by sculptor Gustavo Arcila Uribe in 1946 and is accompanied by a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Guadalupe Hill is the type locality of the Guadalupe Group, a Late Cretaceous sedimentary sequence of sandstones and shales of thick. The formation is being thrust on top of younger strata by the reverse Bogotá Fault as a result of the ongoing Andean orogeny. The hill is the source for the Manzanares and El Chuscal creeks that flow westwards onto the Bogotá savanna.

Historically, Guadalupe Hill was an important sacred site for the indigenous Muisca, who inhabited the Bogotá savanna and surrounding regions before the Spanish conquest. During the colonial period, Guadalupe Hill contained a cross and the hermitage that was destroyed by various earthquakes in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On Sundays, Guadalupe Hill and its chapel and statue are visited by tourists and pilgrims from Bogotá, accessing the hill either by road and public transport or via a walking trail to the hilltop.

Etymology

Guadalupe Hill is named after Our Lady of Guadalupe of Badajoz, not -as is commonly believed- after the famous Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.Cerro de Guadalupe, una joya bogotana que no puede dejar de visitar
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Geology

The Guadalupe Hill is the type locality for the Campanian-Maastrichtian Guadalupe Group, a sequence of three formations of sandstones and shales; Arenisca Dura, Plaeners, Arenisca de Labor and Arenisca Tierna. The thickness of the Guadalupe Group, defined as formation by some authors, at Guadalupe Hill is .Guerrero Uscátegui, 1992, pp.4–5 Approximately 53% of the Eastern Hills consists of the Guadalupe Group.Wiesner Ceballos et al., 2007, p.16

The Guadalupe Group is thrusted on top of the younger Guaduas, Bogotá and Cacho Formations by the Bogotá Fault.Geological Map Bogotá, 1997 The NNW-SSE trending eastward dipping thrust fault forms a barrier for aquifers.Velandia & De Bermoudes, 2002, p.42 The creeks (''quebradas'') Manzanares and El Chuscal originate from Guadalupe Hill.Wiesner Ceballos et al., 2007, p.32

History

Guadalupe Hill in the times before the Spanish conquest was one of the sacred hilltops in the religion of the Muisca, the indigenous inhabitants of the Bogotá savanna. They considered the hills sacred and buried their dead in the mountains. The people, organised in a loose confederation of leaders, the Muisca Confederation, had an advanced knowledge of archaeoastronomy and constructed various temples honouring Sué, the god of the Sun, throughout their territories. Guadalupe Hill in pre-Columbian times was called in their language Muysccubun ''quijicha guexica'', "grandfather's foot".Bonilla Romero, 2011, p.14 Seen from Bolívar Square, at the winter solstice of December, Sué rises exactly over Guadalupe Hill and at the equinoxes of March and September in the valley between Monserrate and Guadalupe.Bonilla Romero et al., 2017, p.153

At the time of the conquest, the Eastern Hills were a forested natural boundary of the Bogotá savanna. During the early colonial period, the Spanish constructed a cross on Guadalupe Hill as a symbol to protect the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada. The wood of the trees of the Eastern Hills were used for construction and heating in the city that grew steadily until the 19th century. This led to deforestation and erosion in the Eastern Hills and when Alexander von Humboldt visited Santa Fe de Bogotá in 1806, he noted "that there was not a single tree left until the open area of Choachí".Camargo Ponce de León, s.a., p.6 The first replanting of trees took place in 1855, and a second phase of reforestation happened in 1940.Wiesner Ceballos et al., 2007, p.17Wiesner Ceballos et al., 2007, p.18 In 1801, Francisco José de Caldas recalculated the height of Guadalupe Hill.De Caldas, 1801, p.365

Hermitage and statue

The first hermitage on Guadalupe Hill was built in 1656 and blessed during a pilgrimage on September 8 of that year. The hermitage was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1743, 1785 and 1827. During the presidency of Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, the hermitage was reconstructed, but affected again by the 1917 Bogotá earthquake. The hermitage was rebuilt in 1945 by Jorge Murcia Riaño and blessed by archbishop Ismael Perdomo. In 1946, the high statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, sculpted by Gustavo Arcila Uribe, was constructed on top of Guadalupe Hill. In 1967, the chapel and road leading up to it were constructed.

Tourism

The Guadalupe Hill and the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe are among the main touristic attractions of Bogotá. The top of the hill offers a viewpoint (''mirador'') for the Colombian capital. The hill can be accessed via a walking trail, used by pilgrims since colonial times, or by the road to Choachí via the Avenida Circunvalar.El Cerro de Guadalupe
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Public transport to Guadalupe Hill leaves on Sundays from Carrera 10 with Calle 6. Since 1997, a running contest is held to ascend the Guadalupe Hill.Ascenso al cerro de Guadalupe
– El Espectador

Every Sunday, the chapel on the hill receives tourists between 7:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon.Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
On the first Sundays of the month, a mass is held from 8:00 to 10:00 AM and at noon.

Gallery

File:VISTA CERRO DE GUADALUE MONSERRATE.JPG, Guadalupe Hill from Monserrate
File:Bogota Business District.JPG, Guadalupe Hill behind the business district of Bogotá
File:Av Jiménez cra 15.JPG, Clouds over Guadalupe Hill
from Avenida Jiménez
File:Bog - Virgen de Guadalupe.JPG, Our Lady of Guadalupe statue
File:Btá - Virgen de Guadalupe.JPG, Head of the statue

See also

*Eastern Hills, Bogotá
* Bogotá savanna

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

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Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
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Seismic history of Bogotá

{{Bogotá

Altiplano Cundiboyacense
Geography of Bogotá
Three-thousanders of the Andes
Tourist attractions in Bogotá
Hills of Colombia