How to get to Plaza Botero Medellín: Sculptures and names

The Plaza is located in the entire downtown area of the city and its address is Av. Carabobo with Calle 53. To get to Botero Park you must take the southern highway or the regional avenue to street 54, go up this street to race 56, and then take street 52 until you come to the square.

How to get there using the Metro

To get to Plaza Botero by metro you must go to the Berrío station. Then they leave it and continue north following the columns that support the subway, one block later they find the square.

The master baptized these monuments with simple names and many of them were exhibited in museums in Paris, New York, and Madrid before being donated to Colombia. We share the name of the 23 sculptures from Plaza Botero that are on display:

• Woman's torso (La Gorda)
• Adam
• Horse
• Horse with bridles
• Head
• Sphinx
• Eve
• Cat
• Man on horseback
• Walking Man
• Man dressed
• Motherhood
• Woman
• Woman with mirror
• Woman with fruit
• Reclining woman
• Seated woman
• Clothed Woman
• Thought
• Dog
• Kidnapping of Europa
• Roman Soldier

The works are exhibited outdoors, being one of the main attractions when visiting Medellín. In addition to being able to appreciate the master's art, you can take photos with the works. As a recommendation, although the site is guarded by the local police, be careful with valuables.

After touring the square, you can enter the Museum of Antioquia, the entrance has a value of 12,000 Colombian pesos, about 3 dollars (although the rate for foreigners is a little higher). There you will find an entire floor with works donated by Fernando Botero, there is also another floor with an exclusive area, with works by international artists.

Although the square is illuminated at night, it is better to visit it during the day since at the end of the afternoon and beginning of the night there is not much traffic of people, there are fewer local police and many homeless people are sleeping.

The park is located in one of the most traditional and characteristic places of the city of Medellín and includes an area of 7,500 square meters for the 23 works of the artist and the two water fountains.

Because it is outdoors, the square is open all day, but the best time to go is in the morning when there are not many people visiting the monuments and they can take good photos. If you are going to go by Metro, try not to go at rush hour, since the Berrio station is one of the busiest with people. Remember to wear comfortable clothes, spend at least two hours and be careful with your belongings.

Parque de las gordas de botero in Medellin turned 20 in October 2020. The history of why Botero square was built for the sculptures goes hand in hand with the history of the Museum of Antioquia. The museum in the '70s and '80s had received works donated by Fernando, but by the end of the 90's the artist promised the museum to donate more works only if it grew (at that time the Antioquia museum did not spend due to a good economic moment) so they decided to look for a new headquarters, which is where it is currently located.

The Plaza, before being what we know now, was a block where there were buildings that did not make the new headquarters of the museum very visible, it was then that a process of purchase and demolition of them began to locate the 23 monuments in that space. The sculptures arrived in Medellín in the year 2000, on October 15 of that same year the new headquarters of the museum opened, and a year later the exhibition of the works in the square.

He is one of the most famous living sculptors in the world, born in Medellín in 1932. Although most of his learning was self-taught, he began his art studies in Madrid at the age of 17. At the age of 19, he had his first individual exhibition of watercolors, gouaches, inks, and oils at the Leo Matiz Gallery in Bogotá. Among the countries that he has lived in and that have witnessed his art are the United States (New York), Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, and Florence.

His works have always been characterized by raising his voice against injustice to keep his art aligned with historical and social reality. Some of his most representative works are:

• The oil painting Frente al mar, with which he won second prize for painting at the IX Annual Salon of Colombian Artists.
• The oil painting Contrapunto shared the second prize and silver medal at the X Salón de Artistas Colombianos
• The camera degli sposi won first prize at the XI National Salon in 1958.
• Head of a bishop in 1962 was one of the first works in the field of sculpture.
• In 1977 he exhibited his bronze sculptures for the first time at the Grand Palais in Paris.