At 8:15 in the morning I got directions from the owner at my hostel and embarked on a mile or so walk to the Transmilieno station in Bogota. The Transmilieno is the main bus system in Bogota and would take me to the outskirts of Bogota. A twenty minute bus ride later I reached the end of the line and would have to transfer to a smaller bus. I asked a police officer for assistance and he pointed to a small bus with “Zipa” on the windshield. That bus winded out of Bogota and into the country side over the next 45 minutes where I finally reached Zipaquaria. I got off the bus and having no idea where the salt mine started wondering around town looking for hints. After a couple awkward conversations in Spanish I realized the salt mine was about four miles up a steep hill and decided a taxi would be a good idea. At 10 AM I arrived at the salt mine and the journey was completely worth it.
A little context, what makes this particular salt mine so interesting is the cathedral they have built inside. This mountain has contains incredible amounts of salt which has been continuously mined for hundreds of years. While the miners were harvesting salt, they built a small chapel inside the mine to pray and worship; especially since mining was such a dangerous activity. In the 1950's a decision was made to expand and a tremendous cathedral was built inside the mine. Unfortunately, that cathedral was condemned due to safety reasons in the 1990's but they built a new one a few years later which was the reason for my visit.
The entrance to the mine:
I was very fortunate to have an English speaking guide who gave me some fantastic information on how salt is mined and the history of the cathedral. A few facts about salt and mining:
There are four types of salt in the mine:
Rock Salt – What you will see in most of the pictures below, looks like typical rock and is over 80% salt mixed with other things like charcoal and pyrite.
Pure Salt – Salt with no iodine and not safe for human consumption but used for other things.
Salt Crystals – What we think of as normal table salt.
Brine – Very salty water as fresh water runs through the mine and collects the salt.
Before blasting open new tunnels in the mine; small holes would be drilled and monitor levels of various gases which could be explosive and / or toxic to humans.
The basic mining shafts we walked through where 15 feet wide by about 10 feet tall and required 23 sticks of dynamite. Each time they blasted the 23 sticks of dynamite they would clear only 1 foot of tunnel. That really surprised me and the reason is the 1 cubic meter of salt rock weighs 4400 lbs.
We descended into the mine dropping nearly 600 feet below the ground to reach the salt cathedral. The first think on the journey were displays for each of the 14 stations of Christ. Each of these were beautiful and almost everything you see is carved out of salt.
Next we reached “The Dome” which is a beautiful room with a domed ceiling bathed in blue light. The dome symbolizes the earth / heavens / and the power of God. This was incredibly difficult to photograph but here is a small piece of the room.
We continued descending into the mine and eventually reached “The Narthex” which is the entrance into the actual cathedral. If you look in the center of the image below you will see large pieces of salt rock that create three different entrances into the cathedral. The far right is for saints, the middle is for sinners, and the far left is for heretics. Below is a picture of The Narthex shortly before I took the middle pathway in the salt cathedral.
The salt cathedral is divided into three rooms symbolizing the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ and all humanity. Let's start with the “Birth” room and below is a picture from up above.
It's difficult the describe how beautiful this is but imagine a huge room carved out of salt rock, over 200 feet high, probably 200 feet wide and nearly a quarter of a mile long that is bathed is beautiful light of numerous colors. Also symbolizing birth in this room is a nativity scene in which all of the figures are carved out of.... Yes you guessed it salt!
Further down the room is a baptismal font made out of salt and this beautiful “waterfall” of crystal salt that is bathed in changing colors of neon light. Overtime water has slowly dripped down the giant front wall of the birth chamber creating this waterfall like effect. Pictures of both are below.
Moving to the life room which is the actual cathedral in the mine. Formal catholic services are not normally hosted here but special events including weddings can be. I didn't ask how much but it can't be cheap; although I don't know any other church that could possibly compare to the beauty and wonder of this place.
View from up above where the choir would be for acoustical purposes.
View for the floor, notice the pews in the bottom of the frame. FYI, the cross in this cathedral is nearly 200 feet tall, remember that one cubic meter of salt weighs 2.2 tons... Any idea how much this cross weighs? Answer to come shortly.
Views toward the front of the life cathedral and the cross.
The floor of the life cathedral also includes this reproduction of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between the two sections of pews; very pretty.
Remember when I asked you how much the cross weighed? Front the choral balcony it looks like a giant piece of carved salt but in reality it's a cut out in the salt rock wall that is bathed in white light, it actually weight nothing and is simply air.
Moving on the death cathedral, this was under reconstruction but one section was open. One of the pitfalls of making a cathedral out of salt is it can and does deteriorate over time.
Finally, I want to show you what the tunnel to bathroom looked like; just to get a sense of what the mine looks like.
It just astounds me that they would make such a beautiful cathedral and testament to God in a place like this nearly 600 feet under the surface of the Earth.
After leaving the Salt Cathedral, I was headed to a tour of Old Bogota with a local history professor. The tour was at 3:30 and quickly realized I would have to charter a car to make it back to Bogota on time which I did, was interesting try to give directions in Spanish to a city and place I had been for 3 days but with the help of an interpreter and a cell phone we managed to make it back in time for the tour.
The tour was fantastic and we got a great sense of Colombia and South America's history including the story of Simon Bolivar and the independence of numerous countries from Spain in the early 19th century. Below is a picture of one of the earliest churches in Bogota the Iglesia de la Candeleria.
Near the end of the tour we stumbled on something that a guide book said was amazing but rarely happens and is never scheduled so it's almost impossible to catch. We were walking along the main drag in La Candeleria and heard this band music echoing from the town square, we walked over and were greeted by armed Colombian guards who checked our bags and let us in. We walked over to the gates surrounding the Colombian President's home and were treated to the formal changing on the guard. Hundreds of soldiers in reproduction dress uniforms from the early 1900's were marching, playing music, and retiring the colors. Pictures below.
Marching and playing the Colombian National Anthem.
Folding and retiring the old Colombian flag which was lowered near the end of the of the ceremony.
Me posing with a couple of Colombian soldiers; armed with assault rifles, who were controlling access around the ceremony.
As the tour was winding down in La Candeleria; I managed to get a few shots as the sun went down including this one with the Andes Mountains in the background.
The tour ended at the Gold museum which the professor encouraged me to check out since it was still open for another hour. This museum is full of old gold artifacts and told the story of ancient civilizations through today; in the context of how we use precious metals like gold. Picture of an interesting death mask is below.
After the tour, I went to a restaurant recommended by the history professor for some authentic Colombian food. The restaurant was called Sanalejo Cafe and I ordered the “Lagostinos en Salsa de Ciruela which were delicious.
Overall today was a fantastic way to end my trip to Bogota and I'm so glad the trip was made to see the Salt Cathedral. If you have any comments / questions please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com
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