Jericó is a town,

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

and Catholic bishopric in the

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n department of

Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders th ...

. It is part of the subregion of

Southwestern Antioquia Southwestern Antioquia is a subregion in the Colombian Departments of Colombia, Department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia. The region is made up of 24 Municipalities of Colombia, municipalities and is part of the Colombian coffee growing axis, ...

. The distance reference from

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

city, the capital of the department, is 104 km (64.6 miles). It lies 1,910 m (6,266 ft) above sea level.

History

The town was founded on September 28, 1850, by pioneer Santiago Santamaría. It was established as

on 1851. During a territorial rearrangement on the country on 1908, Jericó became the capital of the homonymous department until 1911. In 2013, Jericó became the third municipality in Antioquia to be named a '' Pueblo Patrimonio'' (heritage town) of Colombia.

Religion

Its Catedral de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, is the episcopal

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

see of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Jericó The Diocese of Jericó () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Western Colombia. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Medellín. History * 29 Jan ...

(founded 1915, when the first cathedral was built). Due to some damages, the first church had to be replaced by the present cathedral, since 1949.Alcaldía de Jericó
"Nuestro Municipio: Información General"
The town is the birthplace of Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena, canonized as saint by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on 2013.

Notable people from Jericó

* Héctor Abad Gómez *

Francisco Luis Lema Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comm ...

Manuel Mejía Vallejo Manuel Mejía Vallejo (23 April 1923 – 23 July 1998) was a Colombian writer and journalist. The specialist Luís Carlos Molina says that Mejía represents the Andean aspect of the contemporary Colombian narrative, characterized by a world ...

* Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena * Jesusita Vallejo *

José Restrepo Jaramillo José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

Sites of Interest

* Botanical Garden * Cristo Salvador viewpoint * Bomarzo cultural center * Cerro Las Nubes natural reserve and viewpoint * Casa Museo de Santa Laura * Centro de Historia * Museo Antropologico y de Arte (MAJA) * Museo de Arte Religioso

Sources and external links

GCatholic - cathedral, with Google satellite picture

References

Municipalities of Antioquia Department {{Antioquia-geo-stub