The city’s five townships welcome locals and visitors to discover their viewpoints, landscapes, sculptures, cultural activities and pilgrimage sites in Medellín during the Holy Week season.
San Sebastián de Palmitas
The most rural of Medellín’s townships is located at the gateway to western Antioquia, among a large mountainous complex that makes up the San Sebastián de Palmitas Viewpoint Network, composed of the viewpoints El Alto de la Cruz, El Chuscal, El Morrón, La Popa and El Ventiadero.
The church of the township (which retains its Romanesque style structure), maintains a Christian vocation that is evident in the stations of the Passion of Christ, which attracts the visit of a large number of believers during Holy Week.
San Antonio de Prado
The Corregimiento of San Antonio de Prado is a place full of hills, hills and viewpoints where it is possible to interact with nature in the midst of large forest plantations and diverse flora: orchids, bromeliads, palms, yarumos and native vegetation.
The Cerro El Encanto is named after the indigenous people who inhabited the area, and according to history, they kept their treasures or “huacas” in the hill and during Holy Week the hill is illuminated to show where they are located.
Also, the Main Church San Antonio de Padua has a pipe organ that was brought from Spain for the San Antonio parish located in the center of Medellin and ended up installed there by confusion.
Altavista
The Corregimiento de Altavista lives up to its name with its numerous spots and viewpoints ideal for hiking, from which you can observe the urban landscape of Medellín: La Casa El Pantano, La Finca La Montaña, Alto el Barcino and El Mirador de Prado are some of them.
El Cristo del Camino is a reference and meeting point for the inhabitants of the township. The activities that take place there during Holy Week, such as the “alborada” and the pilgrimages, have become a tradition that brings together a large number of people.
Also, in the township of Altavista is the popular Cerro Las Tres Cruces, one of the tutelary hills of Medellin and in which, at the top of its summit were built the three crosses of the Calvary of Jesus Christ, which makes it a place of pilgrimage.
San Cristobal
The Corregimiento of San Cristobal is the main producer of flowers and vegetables in Medellin, its magic lies in the fact that it quickly merges between the rural and the urban due to its proximity to the city.
The Mirador El Picacho, one of the most famous viewpoints in Medellín, is located there and represents a conservation area for fauna and flora, as well as a meeting point for the community and visitors, where tourist activities such as hiking and bird watching are carried out.
Likewise, the Cristo de las Misericordias sculpture is a religious reference for the community and a place of pilgrimage during Holy Week.
Santa Elena
Only 18 kilometers from Medellín is the township of Santa Elena, which has 17 villages that belong to three other municipalities: Envigado, Guarne and Rionegro.
There, among mountains, prehistoric roads, fog forests and friendly farmers and artisans, enjoying the different native flowers of the region and organic gardens and orchards with fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants that grow easily in a humid tropical climate with mountain influence, is an experience full of natural charm.
During this Holy Week season in the Arví Park, the exhibition of the 8th version of ¨Entre Cruces y Flores¨ takes place between April 9 and 17, where visitors can appreciate the large-format flower crosses created by the silleteros of the region.