Santa Cruz de Mompox is surrounded by the Magdalena River, and it is known as the largest river island in Latin America. Its streets hold one of Colombia’s unique cultural treasures, recognized in 1995 by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.
Mompox was founded on May 3rd 1537 by Alonso de Heredia, and was named after the Mompox chief, a tribal leader who lived back then. The municipality used to home the Malibu Indians.
This mysterious place is entrenched in the department of Bolívar. It transports tourists to a different dimension due to the structure of its streets that break through the Spanish style, and its tall arched houses that combat heat. During the Conquista, Mompox was an important trading hub between Cartagena and inland.
Thanks to its beautiful architecture, Mompox hosts important cultural events of the Caribbean such as the Independent Film Festival, the Jazz Festival, and the Mompox Music Festival. The municipality is also known for its religious tourism because of the mass ceremonies held during Holy Week.
Mompox greatest architectural attraction is the Santa Bárbara Church, built in 1630. It has a showy baroque tower that recreates the legend of the “saint” after whom it is named. Another popular place among visitors is the Municipal Cemetery; other than its unparalleled beauty, the place also holds the remains of Mompox local Candelario Obeso, one of the fathers of black poetry in the Americas.
Other attractions include the Municipal Palace, the Religious Art Museum, St. Francis Church and Convent, Marquise Portals House, St. John of God Church, St. Augustine Church, and the Immaculate Conception Church. Overall, more and more tourists visit Mompox to get beautiful filigree handcrafts (the municipality’s characteristic goldsmith technique), and to get lost in the magic of the Colombian Caribbean.
The city of the videoclip from Carlos Vive’s La foto de los dos
Carlos Vives chose Mompox to film the music video for La foto de los dos, a song included in his newest album (Corazón Profundo). The artist expressed how happy he was to go back to the place where he started his career as an actor.
The municipality has been the set of movies like Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and TV shows like Escalona. Vives stared in the latter in the beginning of the nineties.
Learn more about Mompox and discover why when it comes to heritage and culture, the answer is Colombia.
FACTS:
- Mompox is Latin America’s largest river island.
- Mompox is a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1995.
- Candelario Obeso, one of the fathers of black poetry in the Americas, was born in Mompox in 1849.
