Boyacá's bridge. Monument and puente built in place of the battle, re-fitting the original puente.

Monument to Simon Bolivar, puente de Boyacá, Colombia.

The Boyacá Bridge is one of the most important battlefields in contemporary Colombian history. And on August 7, 1819 and contrary to all possibilities, Simón Bolívar's armies defeated the Spanish troops released by General José María Barreiro, sealing Colombia's independence,

Several monuments were erected at the battlefield site. The central point is the Bolivar Monument, an 18-meter-high sculpture topped by the statue of the Colombian hero and accompanied by five angels symbolizing the so-called Bolivarian countries liberated by Bolivar: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Near the place, an eternal flame burns in honor of Bolivar.

The Puente de Boyacá, which gives its name to the battlefield and which Bolivar's troops crossed to fight the Spanish, is just a simple, small bridge that was rebuilt in 1939.

The battlefield is on the main road from Yunja to Bogota, 15 km south of Tunja.

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Antonio Nariño was known as Colombia's patron of independence, and Casa Museo is the home where he spent his last two months before succumbing to a lung infection in 1823.

Nariño was an ardent defender of human rights and is also revered for translating Thomas Paine's Rights of Man into Spanish. The house has been transformed into a museum that houses colonial objects and memorabilia related to this great man.

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Antonio Nariño was known as the patron of the independence of Colombia, and Casa Museo is the house where he spent his last two months of life before succumbing to a lung infection in 1823.

Nariño was an ardent defender of human rights and is also revered for translating Thomas Paine's Rights of Man into Spanish. The house was transformed into a museum housing colonial objects and memorabilia related to this great man.

Tags:   Casa Museo de Antonio Nariño museu museum museo Antonio Nariño Casa Museo Rights of Man Thomas Paine Pueblo Patrimonio Villa de Leyva Villa de Leiva Colombia Colômbia vila colonial patrimônio nacional Hernán Suárez de Villalobos Novo Reino de Granada Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa Boyacá fonte fountain

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Main square: with a plot of 14,000 m² (120m by 120m) fully paved in the center of the Villa, considered the largest in Colombia, being without doubt the main attraction of the town. Currently vehicular access is restricted which has returned its old and cozy appearance.

Parish Church: within the framework of the main square.

Casa del Cabildo: historical relic, located on one side of the main square.

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Villa de Leyva, also called Villa de Leiva, is a touristic colonial town and municipality, in the Ricaurte Province, part of the Boyacá department of Colombia. The town is located 37 kilometres (23 mi) west of the departmental capital Tunja. It is "three and a half hours by car or bus from Bogotá."


Located away from major trade routes in a high altitude valley of semi-desert terrain, and with no mineral deposits nearby to exploit, the town has undergone little development in the last 400 years. As a consequence, it is one of the few towns in Colombia to have preserved much of its original colonial style and architecture: the streets and large central plaza are still paved with cobblestones, and many buildings date from the sixteenth century. This has resulted in Villa de Leyva becoming one of Colombia's principal tourist attractions, and it was declared a National Monument on December 17, 1954 to preserve its architecture. The town and the surrounding countryside, which contains several sites of interest, are popular weekend destinations for citizens of Bogota, and attract an increasing number of foreign tourists.

The focus of the town is the Plaza Mayor, which at 14,000 square meters is the largest square in Colombia and believed to be the largest entirely cobbled square in South America.

The town's most famous son is Antonio Ricaurte (1797–1814), a captain in Simon Bolivar's army fighting for independence, and who died in a famous act of self-sacrifice at San Mateo in what is now Venezuela. The house in which he was born, on the Plazuela de San Agustín, was acquired by Colombia's Air Force in 1977 and turned into a military museum.

Tags:   Colonial Pueblo Patrimonio Villa de Leyva Villa de Leiva Colombia Colômbia vila colonial patrimônio nacional Hernán Suárez de Villalobos Novo Reino de Granada Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa Boyacá Chíquiza Colombia Villa Leyva Villa Leiva colonial town cidade colonial província Ricaurte Plaza Mayor Hernán Suárez de Villalobos Reino de Granada Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa Casa del Cabildo Iglesia parroquial plaza principal National Monument video vídeo 360º Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Rosario

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