The Monumental Underground Museum is located in two chambers inside the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá, 180 metres underground and a few metres from the underground church. The importance of the whole complex of the Cathedral lies not only in its religious value but also in its heritage, cultural, environmental and social value.
With the intention of preserving and revitalising the historical values of this extraordinary place, the idea is to create a Museum of Monumental Sculpture that will recover its architectural, spatial and symbolic qualities with an intervention that respects the authenticity of the Cathedral and the mine since the masterful work of the architect Roswell Garavito Pearl in 1990.
Conceived to house a series of works by 22 sculptors from 19 world-renowned countries who were invited to Colombia to work directly on the site, the Museum seeks in essence to recover the profound meaning of the Salt Cathedral and link it to the experience of contemporary art.
Occupying two adjoining chambers intercommunicated by a tunnel, the museum contains a series of bas-reliefs carved into the side walls of the chambers, an area for displaying the marble sculptures, an area for temporary exhibitions and a circular amphitheatre for holding cultural events; in addition, the museum is complemented by a themed café and a shop for the sale of art objects related to the museum itself.
A large stage of monumental modern art sculptures is thus proposed, activated by singular events and pauses in the route. The works have been arranged on two platforms that allow the sculptures to stand out and which - like the essential pieces of a larger work of art - lean on, overhang or fly over the podiums and are inscribed on the walls to be contemplated by visitors from different and unexpected angles and points of view.
Works and events strategically occupy the space of the two chambers under the effect of a constellation of lights which, without altering the genius loci of the mine, enhance it and give it a renewed meaning by combining the space created by the work of the miners in excavating the mine with the works achieved by the precise work of the sculptors, together with the work achieved with the concrete by the builders and the precise arrangement of all the elements conceived by the architects.
The organic irregularity of the chambers lies in tension with the precise cutting of the stone, the casting and geometric modelling of the concrete, the assembly of the wood, the careful arrangement of events. The Museo Subterraneo Monumental seeks to balance the organic forces of the underground with the geometric forces of the artistic and architectural creation installed in the depths of Colombia's greatest heritage site: the Salt Cathedral.
Promoter: Monumental Underground Museum Society
William Mauricio Duque Corredor - project manager
Jorge Armando Pérez Vergara
Roberto Carlos Roa Cortes
Architectural design, furniture and museography: Yemail Arquitectura
Antonio Yemail Cortés
Ricardo Ernesto Daza Caicedo
María Natalia Carrero Rojas
Jimmi Camilo Palacio Guarnizo
Oscar Fernando Parga Quevedo
Structural design: Iván Vergara
Lighting design: ESPELLA GROUP SAS
Geotechnical study: Luis Felipe Carrillo
Electronic design: Diego Fernando Laverde
Auditor: Asdraldo Contreras
Human security: José Joaquín Álvarez Enciso
Civil works: Estoc Ingeniería SAS
John Alexander Guillen Martin
Ricardo Buitrago Fagua
Luis Fernando Olaya Rocha
Carpentry: Maderas y láminas especiales SAS
Rogelio Pabón Roa
Electrical work: CIEM SAS
José Ignacio Murillo
Metal carpentry: Rusbel Rodríguez
Photography: Leonardo Finotti
