Plaza Bicentenaria graces the center of Barranquitas and commemorates the town’s founding. For travelers interested in a destination’s history and architecture, the plaza offers a tangible starting point: its design and a time capsule inside the gazebo preserve different aspects of the town’s history.
Plaza Bicentenaria: Commemorating the Founding
Architect José A. Colón designed Plaza Bicentenaria to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the town’s founding. The plaza’s design therefore has a clearly identified purpose. A capsule is buried inside the gazebo, containing documents about the 200 years of history celebration and the town’s founding.
The planned handling of these documents is also part of the plaza’s history: they were to be retrieved 50 years later so future generations could learn how Barranquitas marked the 200th anniversary of its founding. This describes a plan made at the time, not whether it was later carried out.
Casa Museo Luis Muñoz Rivera
Casa Museo Luis Muñoz Rivera is in the town center and is used as a museum. Visitors can see the study, the car, and various rooms of the house. The building itself is a single-story wooden house made of native wood, with a zinc roof and a frontage about ten meters wide.
The house is representative of a significant period in the development of Caribbean vernacular architecture. A visit allows you to consider two aspects together: the house’s architecture and the rooms open to visitors in the museum. Its preserved architectural form gives the museum visit a tangible architectural focus.
San Antonio: Architectural History and Art
The current facade of San Antonio Church in Barranquitas was completed by 1933. Parroquia San Antonio de Padua was rebuilt in 1988 with support from the community. These two dates offer different points of reference for the church’s architectural history.
A sculpture of Saint Anthony of Padua stands above the main entrance. It was created by Rafael López del Campo, a sculptor from Barranquitas. The altar features three large limestone slabs by Colombian sculptor Víctor Zambrana; the stained-glass windows were made in Venezuela. The details differ in location, material, and origin, making the church’s design tangible through specific works of art.
Route, Trail, and Regional Natural Landscape
A historical and cultural route explores the history of the Muñoz Rivera family. To arrange a guided tour, you can contact the Barranquitas Tourism Office. Another point of reference is the municipality’s Paseo Lineal, which runs from the Colinas de Monte Verde sector to Ing. José Zayas Green Avenue, known as “El Desvío.”
The Cañón Las Bocas, in the wider region, is a separate attraction. The area covers a total of 1,205.68 cuerdas: 760.79 are in the municipality of Comerío and 444.89 in Barranquitas. On the Barranquitas side, it includes the Quebradillas and Quebrada Grande barrios; in Comerío, it includes Río Hondo and Palomas. The canyon thus extends across several rural barrios and should not be considered a site in the town center.
Cañón San Cristóbal lies between Barranquitas and Aibonito. Barranquitas Tourism invites visitors to go on an adventure in the canyon with the Para la Naturaleza group. Alongside the cultural and historical attractions, this offers a regionally located nature experience and a municipal trail as distinct points of interest for planning a trip.
For the broader travel overview: Barranquitas.
