Simón Bolívar Park
Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park | |
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Simón Bolívar Park | |
Location | Bogotá, Colombia |
Coordinates | 4°39′29″N 74°5′38″W / 4.65806°N 74.09389°W |
Area | 400 hectares (988 acres) |
Created | 1979 |
Operated by | Mayor's Office of Bogotá |
Status | Open all year |
The Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park, best known as the Simón Bolívar Park, is a greenspace and entertainment and sports complex located in the middle of the city of Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the largest urban parks in the world with over 1000 acres of green spaces, bicycle paths, parks, sports complexes, a public library and the Bogota Botanical Gardens.
The park is named after the Latin American Liberator Simón Bolívar. The park is located in the locality of Teusaquillo and is managed by the District Institute of Recreation and Sport (Instituto Distrital de Recreacion y Deporte - IDRD). The park is one of the most popular urban parks in the city of Bogotá.
The park features a lake in which people can rent paddle boats and a large space for concerts and events capable of holding 140.000 people.
History
The construction of Simón Bolívar Park started in 1966. In 1968 the city of Bogotá built a temple to commemorate the
Colombian architect Arturo Robledo Ocampo designed in 1982 the details of new improvements to the park which at the time was far from an actual recreational space. Ocampo developed the plans for tree growing areas, the central plaza and also designed the water supply and structures such as channels and walls. In 1983 the Events Plaza was finally built. 3300 trees were planted and a pedestrian bridge that linked the park with the Children's Museum was inaugurated. In 1995 the pedestrian pathways were made bigger from 5 meters to 10 meters wide. The stage area of the Events Plaza was closed in the perimeters and the illumination was improved. Three new access points were added.
Since 1996 new social programs have been created in order to make the park an events center. This include as of now the Summer Festival, and the
Parks System
The Simón Bolívar Park is in fact a system of adjacent greenspaces. Its extension is over 970 acres (3.9 km2), bigger than the Central Park extension in New York. At the present time it is considered the "lung of the city" due to its central location and because of its size and its vegetation. The park is conformed among others by the following parks:
Simón Bolívar Central Park (PCSB)
It's the main greenspace, it has an area of about 279 acres (1.13 km2). A lake with an area of over 27 acres (110,000 m2). It features over 11 miles (18 km) of pedestrian pathways and an acoustic shell-shaped area for concerts. Major concerts and festivals mainly take place in this area.
The Salitre Park
Commonly and formerly known as The Salitre Park and officially named
Park SportsRecreation El Salitre (Parque RecreoDeportivo El Salitre)
Is a sports complex located adjacent to the Magic Salitre Park. It has courts for the practicing of different sports especially soccer and basketball. It also features a small coliseum for small events.
Children's Museum
Park of the Lake (Los Novios Park)
Los Novios Park (boyfriends-girlfriends park) with an area of over 53 acres (210,000 m2), this park features soccer fields and a
Sports Palace (Palacio de los Deportes)
Is a dedicated roof covered
Simón Bolívar Aquatic Complex
Is a space that features three pools. A training pool, an
El Salitre Sports Unit
Is a sports center with facilities for the practicing of a variety of sports from indoors to outdoors. El Salitre Coliseum (second in importance to the El Campin Coliseum) and the
Concerts
The park's Events Plaza is the venue of most of the concerts of international singers when they perform in Bogota, since 2005 concerts were banned in
On May 2, 1999, Metallica performed for the first time in Colombia with a sold-out show, holding the record for the highest attendance concert with 100,000 people attending for one only show.
During her The Sweet Escape Tour, Gwen Stefani performed the only show in South America for the tour, in front of 30,000 spectators.
Iron Maiden performed for the first time in the country in front of more than 38,788 people.[1] The show was recorded for the Iron Maiden: Flight 666 DVD.
Depeche Mode performed at the park on October 10, 2009, during their Tour of the Universe. The band will perform again on March 16, 2018, during their Global Spirit Tour.
On March 10, 2010, Metallica performed for the second time in the venue in front of 28,291 people. All platinum and VIP tickets were sold.[2]
On May 19, 2010, Aerosmith performed a sold-out show. The band holds the record for fastest sell out concert at the park for their first show, with 3 hours and 40,000 tickets sold.
American rock band
Britney Spears[4] performed for the first time in Colombia in front of 20,000 spectators on November 26, 2011, during her Femme Fatale Tour. Tickets for a Meet & Greet with Spears sold out in within 1 minute, Platino tickets were sold out.
The Cure performed for the first time in Colombia in 2013.
Metallica performed for the third time in the park on March 6, 2014. Sold-out concert, more than 40,000 people attended making the band to break the record for artist with the highest attendance in the history of the venue. The total attendance for their three shows at the park is more than 140,000 people.[5]
Pearl Jam performed for the first time in Colombia on November 25, 2015, during their Pearl Jam 2015 Latin America Tour.
Gallery
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View of the Bogotá Hills from Simón Bolívar Park
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Summer Festival
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Outdoor picnic area
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Salitre Park
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Bust of Simón Bolívar
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Biking track
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TransmilenioStation
See also
- 93 Park
- Coliseo El Pueblo
- Coliseo Cubierto El Campín
- Metropolitan Area of Bogotá
- Corferias
References
- ^ Reuters
- ^ "Hot Tours: Depeche Mode, Metallica, 'Glee'". Billboard. 10 June 2010.
- ^ "Red Hot Chili Peppers".
- ^ "Britney Spears". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
- (in Spanish) History of the Metropolitanean Simón Bolivar Park
- (in English) Places To Go in Bogotá: Simón Bolivar Park information