The yellow arcade of the Plaza de los Coches defines the entrance to Cartagena’s walled city. During the seventeenth century, this space served as the primary slave market for the Americas. Captives arrived at the nearby harbor and were…
Walled City Colonial Plazas
Walk through the historic heart of Cartagena to visit its most vibrant colonial squares, grand churches, and storied government palaces.
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1. Plaza de los Coches
2. Plaza de la Aduana
The Plaza de la Aduana holds a stone plaque marking the spot where Pedro de Heredia founded Cartagena in fifteen thirty-three. Its most prominent feature is the deep ochre facade of the former customhouse, the Edificio de la Aduana, which…
3. Plaza de San Pedro Claver
The Plaza de San Pedro Claver features a collection of scrap metal sculptures of animals, which stand in stark contrast to the heavy, colonial stone facade of the adjacent church. Pedro Claver lived in the monastery here during the…
4. Plaza de Santa Teresa
The Plaza de Santa Teresa centers on the heavy stone facade of the former Saint Teresa convent, now a hotel, which looms over the western end. For centuries, this space served as a staging ground for the Spanish Inquisition and a final…
5. Plaza de Santo Domingo
The Plaza de Santo Domingo features a bronze sculpture by Fernando Botero titled Gertrudis, a reclining female figure with exaggerated proportions that draws crowds of visitors rubbing her skin for good luck. This square was the center of…
6. Plaza de Bolívar
The Plaza de Bolívar features a dense canopy of tall, leafy trees that shade the stone paths and cast patterns across the colonial balconies surrounding it. This square began as the Plaza de la Inquisición, the site where the colonial…
7. Palacio de la Proclamación
The Palacio de la Proclamación in Cartagena features a stark, yellow facade dominated by a row of evenly spaced, arched windows that overlook the Plaza de la Aduana. Built to house the governor during the Spanish colonial period, the…
8. Parque Fernández Madrid
A bronze statue of a man in a frock coat stands in the center of the park, surrounded by colonial facades and tall palm trees. This is the memorial to Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana, though locals know this plaza by the name of the…
9. Plaza de San Diego
The Plaza de San Diego features a vibrant, sun-drenched facade of ochre and burnt orange surrounding a central fountain shaded by thick almond trees. This square sits before the former Convent of Saint Diego, built in the early seventeenth…