A mysterious place in Colombia - the abandoned Hotel Del Salto. The forever closed hotel del salto, colombia Salto colombia

This building, built at the beginning of the 20th century in the picturesque location of the town of San Antonio del Tequendama, has been surrounded by legends for many years. Otherwise, how else to explain that a luxury hotel, a few decades after the pompous opening, closed its doors for guests forever. Tourists hope that the hotel will become a museum. But locals we are sure: the hotel has new owners, and they are by no means one of the people.

In Colombia, the hotel was built in 1923, 30 km south-west of Bogotá near the Tequendama waterfall.

The name of the 137-meter waterfall is translated as “open door”. It was given by the Indians, who then inhabited the river valley, but preferred to bypass this place. They believed that spirits live in this place, which help to pass to another world. However, the developers of the hotel, mystical legends were only on hand. The stream of inquisitive tourists did not dry up. This continued until the 1970s.

In the 1970s, interest in the hotel dried up. This place literally drove people crazy. Visitors one after another began to take their own lives. The hotel has turned into a place of pilgrimage for suicides in a few years. Locals believed that the spirits that guarded the waterfall took people to another world. After all, according to legend, he was a transition to another world.

Once upon a time, the Indians, pursued by conquistadors, threw themselves from a cliff in this place with whole families. Their bodies were carried away by the river, and their souls were reincarnated into eagles. But the souls of modern suicides never found their shelter, the elders of the city are sure that the ghosts of restless wandering around the hotel rooms.

The hotel flourished in the middle of the last century. Then in "El Hotel del Salto" there were 18 apartments with bathrooms and fireplaces, a restaurant with a terrace, as well as numerous basements. The building resembled a French castle in the Gothic style. Wealthy tourists loved to spend time here. The symbiosis of the beauty of nature, the power of a waterfall and modern hotel comfort has attracted travelers from all over the world. This continued until mysterious deaths began to occur at the hotel.Historians do not believe in legends and associate the decline in the hotel's popularity with the pollution of the Bogota River estuary with sewage. Because of this, a fetid odor appeared around the hotel. The river began to grow shallow, which could not affect the Takendama waterfall. Man with his own hands destroyed the power and beauty of nature. Now the Institute of Natural Sciences of the National University of Colombia is doing a great job to clean up Bogotá and its tributaries. The authorities hope that the El Hotel del Salto will again attract tourists and find a second life. But what do the ghosts think about this ?!

Perhaps the mystical hotel will find a second life

One of the most mystical places in the abandoned hotel del Salto (El Hotel del Salto), located near in the town of San Antonio del Tequendama. It was a luxurious hotel that, a few years after the pompous opening, closed forever.

One of the most mystical places in is the abandoned El Hotel del Salto, located not far from the town of San Antonio del Tequendama. It was a luxurious hotel that, a few years after the pompous opening, closed forever. For a long time, the building was overgrown with shrubs and moss, and today it resembles a frame from a horror movie.

Historical background

In 1920, a local architect named Karl Arturo Tapia began building the villa on the orders of President Marco Fidel Suarez. He chose a location on a scenic site. On one side there was a cliff, and on the other, the Tequendama waterfall, the name of which is translated from the Indian language as "an open door". The natives believed that spirits lived here, helping to move to another world.

The building was built in 1923 in the Gothic style and resembled a French castle. Moreover, the official opening took place 5 years later. In 1950, the building was converted into a 6-storey hotel (4 above ground and 2 underground levels). Gabriel Largacha was responsible for the design work.

Why was the Salto hotel in Colombia abandoned?

In the middle of the XX century, it gained great popularity, it was settled by wealthy Colombians and tourists. Guests were attracted by the royal apartments and exquisite menu... They enjoyed admiring the local fauna surrounding the 137-meter waterfall.

In 1970, the flow of tourists dropped significantly. There are 2 versions of why this happened:

Visitors began to die in the mansion. They laid hands on themselves in rooms or jumped from the roof into a cliff. The Salto Hotel in Colombia has grown into legends and began to attract lovers of mysticism. Locals claim that they often hear some kind of voices here and see ghosts, which are the souls of suicides.
The Tequendama Falls began to dry up, as the rivers that fed it were heavily polluted with industrial waste and, in addition, emitted a terrible smell. Over time, a small trickle remained from the powerful stream.
In 1990, the permanently closed Hotel del Salto began to attract tourists not only from all over Colombia, but from all over the world, only not as a hotel, but as a kind.

Hotel Salto in Colombia today

No one lived in the mansion for a long time, so it was overgrown with wild plants and partially collapsed. Currently, it houses the Museum of Biodiversity and Culture of the Tequendama Falls (Casa Museo del Salto del Tequendama). It was opened after complete restoration, and environmentalists, together with local authorities, have worked to clean up the river and its tributaries.

$ 410 thousand was spent on repair work and improvement of the territory. The EU fund provided significant financial assistance. After the work carried out, the structure was given the status cultural heritage country. The museum has several exhibitions:

Cavernas, Ecosistemas del Mundo Subterráneo - talks about the diverse biological species that live in underground ecosystems;
La anatomía del cuerpo humano de Francesco Antommarchi - here you can see the anatomical drawings created by the doctor François Antommarchi;
Un día en el Desierto de la Tatacoa - introduces visitors to biological diversity.

Features of the visit

If you want to plunge into the past, see ghosts or modern exhibitions, then come to the museum any day from 07:00 to 17:00. Price entrance ticket is approximately $ 3. Tourists can freely move around the mansion, while taking pictures inside the hotel is prohibited.

How to get there?

Hotel del Salto is located 40 km from the capital of Colombia -. You can get here via motorways such as Av. Boyacá, Cra 68 and Av. Cdad. de Quito.

Hotel "Del Salto" (Colombia, El Hotel del Salto) is one of the most amazing and mysterious sights of South America, causing conflicting feelings. On the one hand, the building, built in the French style, enchants with the grace and grace of its lines, on the other hand, the devastation and dilapidation inherent in the abandoned building gives it a gloomy and eerie shade. The hotel is located a few dozen kilometers southwest of the Colombian capital, Bogotá. The building was built in a fantastically beautiful place - on the edge sheer cliff, surrounded by mountains covered with a misty haze, opposite the rumbling Tequendama waterfall.

Historical facts

The construction of the hotel began at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1920, by the then famous architect Carlos Arturo Tapia. The site chosen for the construction is very picturesque - not far from the stormy waterfall of Taekwiendama, located in the municipality of San Antonio del Taekwiendama (in the Colombian department of Cundinomarco). The building was originally built as country residence Pedro Nel Ospina Vaskis, who ruled from 1922 to 1926. In 1923, the construction of the mansion was completed, and its opening took place only in 1927.

In the early 50s of the XX century, the building was gradually rebuilt into a hotel, which is known today as the Hotel Del Salto (Colombia), experts from Bogota Gabriel Largach and Dominic Parmo. The renovated building had 6 floors: 4 floors were above the ground, and 2 floors were underground. In the basement there were laundries, utility and storage rooms. The hotel was equipped with 18 luxurious rooms, each of which had a private bathroom and a fireplace, the building also had a restaurant with a cozy terrace, from where an amazing panorama of the waterfall and mountains opened. Hotel guests who have stayed here have noted the special soulful atmosphere of this unique place, excellent living conditions and excellent service.

This place was very popular with the local wealthy and wealthy foreigners.

The prosperity and decline of the Hotel Del Salto

The hotel flourished until the 70s. Hotel "Del Salto" (Colombia) had a rather high rating at that time. According to the reviews of tourists, everyone was attracted by its mysterious and enigmatic appearance, the luxury that reigned in it. But in the next decade, as travelers note, the hotel gradually began to decline. The official version explaining this fact was that industrial sewage and sewage water began to be dumped into local rivers. Because of this, Taekwiendama began to grind and publish unpleasant odors... Naturally, as tourists note, this could not be liked. The stream of people wishing to relax in this hotel has come to naught.

In the late 70s, Roberto Arias became the new owner of the mansion. He converted the hotel into a restaurant, which worked for about 7 years. After that, Arias left Colombia and the restaurant closed.

Rumors and legends

The 140-meter Taekwiendama Falls and its surroundings have been considered strange since ancient times and mysterious place... Translated from the ancient Indian language, its name means "open door". The Muisca Indians (or, as they were also called Chibcha), who lived here in the XII-XVI centuries, believed that there was a door to other world, near which the spirits live, accompanying the dead on the way to the eternal refuge. For this reason, they preferred to bypass Taekwiendama by the tenth road.

According to one of the legends, the waterfall was created by the Muisky god Bochika, who broke a huge stone with his staff, which blocked the water on the way to the savannah.

Another myth says that when the Spanish conquistadors came to South American lands, the local freedom-loving inhabitants did not want to submit to the conquerors and threw themselves down the cliff, and their souls turned into eagles, fiercely defending their homeland.

Mecca for suicides

In the 90s, when the hotel "Del Salto" (Colombia), the photo of which you see in the article, became abandoned and uninhabited, this place mysteriously began to attract those who wanted to commit suicide. The mystical atmosphere literally drove people crazy, and they jumped down the cliff. The local population believes that the spirits that live near the waterfall and guard the "open door" from unnecessarily noisy and curious onlookers are taken to the other world. There are also rumors of numerous ghosts living in the former hotel.

New life of the hotel "Del Salto"

At the beginning of our century on the abandoned hotel "Del Salto" (Colombia), whose address today: Santa Marta, r. Bogotá, the Colombian government noted, the building was given the status of the country's architectural heritage and a lot of money was allocated for restoration and restoration work. In 2011, the former hotel was taken over by the Institute of Natural Sciences, an environmental foundation and National Columbia University. These organizations have rebuilt the hotel and made here the Museum of Biological Diversity and Culture of the Tequendama Falls (Musee de la biodiversite et de la culture des chutes de Tequendama). The European Union has allocated about 310 thousand euros (more than 400 thousand US dollars) for the restoration and improvement of the structure and its surrounding territory.

Museum

The Institute of Natural Sciences, with the support of the National, has done a tremendous job purifying the water in the rivers that feed the ill-fated waterfall.

At the end of 2009, the renovated architectural monument, which became a museum, hosted the first exposition telling about the numerous inhabitants of ecological systems located underground. In the summer of 2013, an anatomical exhibition was held, which included sketches and sketches by Dr. François Antomarca, and in the fall of the same year, a museum exhibition dedicated to the biological diversity of the Tatacoa Desert.

Local authorities actively urge tourists not to be afraid of the ill fame that has been inherent in the hotel "Del Salto" for a long time, but feel free to visit these amazing places to leave unforgettable experience for life.

Hotel Del Salto (Colombia): how to get there

Before museum complex and the Taekwiendama waterfall, located in the municipality of San Antonio del Taekwiendama, you can get from the Colombian capital Bogotá both independently - by by bus or at personal transport, and as part of an excursion group.

Hotel Del Salto near Taekwuendama Falls is one of the main attractions located about 30 kilometers southwest of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Thousands of tourists who visit the area to admire the height of the 157 meter waterfall and the surrounding nature, stopping at one place where the abandoned Hotel De Salto stands. El Abara and Taekwuendama were the first settlements in Colombia. The river ripples through a rocky ravine that tapers to 60 feet at the edge of the falls, completely drying up in the month of December. The waterfall can be reached by car or bus on the road from Bogota.

According to Muisca legend, the waterfall was created by Bochica, who used his rod to break a stone and release water that was spreading from Bogotá to the savannah.
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According to another legend, during the Spanish conquest in South America to avoid slavery indigenous population the provinces turned eagles and defended Salto Del Taekwuendama just to achieve their freedom. In 1924, a luxury hotel was opened overlooking the falls, welcoming the visiting wealthy tourists.

But in the early 90s, the hotel was closed, it is believed, due to polluted river water. Later, there were rumors that there were ghosts at the hotel, which began to lure tourists more. There was talk of renewing it and restoring it to its former glory, but that was just talk. The stories about ghosts were of a different nature, there were constant fights in the bar on the second floor and the sounds of struggle were heard, on the other hand, there are stories about those who tried to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.

The last story seems more truthful for the population, since according to their beliefs, if you jump off a cliff, you get forgiveness from the entire sinful past. The del Salto hotel with its ghosts has now been turned into a museum, where you can listen to different stories and legends, as well as admire beautiful nature and a magnificent waterfall.

The hotel building was built in 1923 in the tiny town of San Antonio del Tequendama, 30 kilometers southeast of the capital. This is one of beautiful places on the Bogota River - here is the Tequendama waterfall. The name of the 137-meter waterfall means "open door" - the Indians who inhabited the river valley believed that the waterfall arose after the wizard cut the mountain. The customer for the construction of an unusual mansion in the style French castle the then President of the Republic of Colombia Pedro Nel Ospina made a speech - the windows of the palace built on the very edge of the cliff overlooked the waterfall. In addition to the four above-ground floors, the building had two underground, which housed storage rooms and a laundry room. Ospina's mandate expired in 1926, and the palace appeared new owner who opened a hotel within these walls. The heyday of the El Hotel del Salto came in the middle of the last century, when it was resold again, reconstructed and opened to guests. Then in El Hotel del Salto there were 18 apartments with bathrooms and fireplaces, and a restaurant with a terrace, where wealthy capital residents gladly came to relax. The attraction of the hotel was directly dependent on the magnificent view of the waterfall, so when in the 1970s Tequendama began to become shallow and polluted by sewage, the flow of people who wanted to relax in the hotel also dried up.

In the absence of vacationers, interest in the abandoned hotel arose among those who decided to commit suicide. In general, local Indians began to use the waterfall as a means of transition to another world - pursued by conquistadors, they threw themselves off the cliff with whole families, and, according to legend, turned into eagles. In the 20th century, the slopes near the hotel were similarly used by romantics suffering from unrequited love, bankrupt businessmen and others to overly balanced categories of citizens - albeit without subsequent reincarnation. At one time, they even wanted to move the police station to the building of an abandoned hotel, and local residents spread rumors about the ghosts of the dead - they had to somehow fight the stream of people who wanted to say goodbye to their lives at the hotel.

Recently, the state has paid attention to El Hotel del Salto. The building received the status of a cultural heritage site of Colombia, after reconstruction it is planned to open within its walls National Museum biological diversity of fauna and flora. As for the smell that once scared away vacationers from the hotel, the Institute of Natural Sciences of the National University of Colombia is doing a great job of cleaning up Bogotá and its tributaries. The waterfall can be seen throughout the year, except for December, when the river is almost completely shallow. The founders of the fund raising funds for the reconstruction of El Hotel del Salto urge tourists not to be afraid of ghost stories and come to the palace for beautiful shots against the backdrop of a waterfall, because the only ghost who owned this for a long time scenic spot- human indifference and disregard for nature - left him forever.