★ UNESCO
World Heritage ◈ hidden gem
World Heritage ◈ hidden gem
📷 inyucho · CC BY 2.0
Where in the world
Colombia
Tierradentro
Tierradentro · Colombia
Field notes
- civilizations
- Tierradentro
- types
- Hypogeum · Necropolis
- occupied
- 600 CE — 900 CE
- country
- Colombia
The site
Tierradentro, whose name means "underground" in Spanish, is a necropolis of the pre-Columbian Tierradentro culture in the mountains of southwest Colombia, occupied here between roughly 600 and 900 CE. Its glory lies below the surface: dense clusters of elaborate hypogea, rock-cut tombs reached by spiral staircases descending five to eight meters to burial chambers. The walls blaze with geometric, human, and animal patterns in red, black, and white, a subterranean art that earned it World Heritage status.
