El Gato del Río is a work donated by the artist Hernando Tejada in 1996, which is why it is also called “El Gato de Tejada”. The sculpture is carved in bronze, is 3.5 meters high, and weighs three tons.
Around the cat is his "girlfriends", there are 15 cats made by different recognized artists to recover, for a few years, that space in the city. Some cats were distributed in different parts of Cali.
It is a place that you must visit to appreciate the artistic culture of Cali. Inside the small park, some paths guide you through all the works where you find spaces to take photos next to them.
The park is very well-lit, cared for, and safe because there is always a police presence, so you can go at any time of the day.
This sector is also a good place to jog or walk around the river since the park connects with a green corridor of several kilometers. In the mornings and at night is where you can see more people exercising in this area.
How to get to El Gato del Río?
Parque del Gato is located in the west along Colombia Avenue in the Normandía neighborhood, very close to the El Peñón neighborhood. To get to Gato del Río by car you must take the fifth street to race 4 to exit Colombia avenue. Then you must make the return that is before the World Cup tunnel and then continue along the avenue until you see the statue of the Cat. In front of the park, there are restaurants where you can park.
If you are going to get to Parque del Gato by mass transit, you must first get to the MIO San Bosco station. There you leave the station to take the A02 feeder. This route first enters the center of Cali and then crosses the El Peñón neighborhood until it exits on Colombia Avenue where the Gato de Tejada park is located across the street.
Story of the River Cat
The sculpture was cast in bronze on a large scale and sculpted for 7 months in the city of Bogotá in the workshop of Rafael Franco. Which had to remove its roof to be able to be transported. The monument was located in 1996 on the so-called 'Avenida del Río' as part of the beautification and recovery plan for the banks of the Cali River.
At that date the work was valued at $30 million, although it was a gift from the Pereira-born sculptor Hernando Tejada. Today its value is over 400 million pesos (100,000 dollars).
Hernando Tejada
Hernando Tejada Sáenz was a Colombian painter and sculptor popularly known as 'Tejadita'. He was born in Pereira on February 1, 1924, and died in Cali on June 1, 1998.
In the field of painting, he learned the fresco technique from his teacher Luis Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo, a professor at the National University of Bogotá. Within his pictorial work, portraits of women stand out, in oil and tempera techniques; work that he carried out with great skill, but that did not fully satisfy him.
After dabbling in painting, drawing, and muralism, Tejada dedicates himself to woodworking, making puppets that marked his work for the following decades. Objects carved in the wood where their picaresque and bohemian style stands out cataloged as the exuberant Baroque style.
His last work in bronze, and the one with the greatest memory, was El Gato del Río or also known as El Gato de Tejada. He passed away two days after finishing it.
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