“You descend spiral stone stairs into ancient underground tombs painted with red, black and white geometric designs a thousand years old.”
About Tierradentro National Archaeological Park
The hypogea of Tierradentro were carved by a pre-Columbian culture between about the 6th and 10th centuries AD for funerary purposes, an achievement of considerable skill and labour. The site, with its painted tombs and associated statuary, was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique testimony to a vanished Andean society, though much about its builders remains unknown.
Tierradentro is a remote archaeological park in the mountains of southern Colombia, famous for its remarkable underground burial chambers carved into volcanic rock more than a thousand years ago. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, its hypogea, decorated tombs reached by spiral stone stairs descending into the earth, are unique in the Americas.
Tierradentro is a remote archaeological park in the mountains of southern Colombia, famous for its remarkable underground burial chambers carved into volcanic rock more than a thousand years ago.
Painted Tombs Beneath the Earth
Between roughly the 6th and 10th centuries, an ancient and little-known culture carved large underground tombs, or hypogea, into the soft volcanic rock of these hills, some up to several metres deep, reached by steep spiral staircases cut into the stone. The chambers, used for secondary burials, are decorated with geometric and figurative designs painted in red, black and white mineral pigments on columns and walls, an extraordinary funerary art found nowhere else in quite this form.
The Experience
You hike between hillside sites in a beautiful, remote mountain landscape, descending steep spiral staircases by torchlight into the underground tombs to see the painted columns and walls in the dim chambers. The effort of reaching the scattered tombs, the eerie descent and the ancient art make it a memorable archaeological adventure, far from the usual tourist trail, in a tranquil rural setting.
Why It Matters
Tierradentro is one of the most important archaeological sites in Colombia and the Americas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving a unique tradition of underground funerary art. It offers a rare and atmospheric encounter with a mysterious pre-Columbian culture and is a highlight for those who enter Colombia's southern mountains.
Tierradentro is one of the most important archaeological sites in Colombia and the Americas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving a unique tradition of underground funerary art.
Why Visit
Unique pre-Columbian underground tombs painted with ancient designs, reached by spiral stairs, in a remote UNESCO-listed mountain park in southern Colombia.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Descend the spiral stairs into the painted underground tombs.
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It involves hiking between scattered hillside sites.
- 3
It is remote; allow time to reach this southern region.
