Villa de Leyva photos

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Villa de Leyva is a colonial town and municipality , in the Boyacá department, part of the the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. The town is located some 40 km west of Tunja and has a population of about 4,000 people. Villa de Leyva is considered one of the finest colonial villages of Colombia, and was declared a National Monument in December 17, 1954 to preserve its architecture. It is located in a high altitude valley at 2,144 m altitude where fossils from the Mesozoic and the Cretaceous abound.

It was founded in June 12, 1572 by Hernán Suarez de Villalobos and named after the first president of the New Kingdom of Granada, Andrés Díaz Venero de Leyva.

Among the main areas of interests are the Main Square ("Plaza Mayor") where many restaurants and stores sell handcrafts and art. Many streets are made of stones, similar to colonial times.

Near the town itself several attractions can be found, such as an ostrich farm, a museum (el fosil), and an old astronomy observatory made of phallic stones ("El Infernito", for "little hell" in Spanish). There is also a group of seven waterfalls named "La Periquera" bout 15 km away from the town.

The El Fósil (Spanish for the fossil) museum has an almost complete kronosaurus fossil in display, in the same place in which it was found in 1977.

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