The Tierradentro region, an archaeological site of incomparable beauty, is situated in Cauca province, in an area which includes the towns of Inzá and Belalcázar.

The earliest incursions into the area by Europeans occurred in 1539, when troops under Sebastián de Belalcázar attempted to penetrate territory that was inhabited by Páez, Yalcon, Timaná and Guanaca communities. It was four centuries later, in the first half of the twentieth century, that the first archaeological exploration work was done, including that by Spaniard José Pérez de Barradas in 1936. This important archaeological site has been studied and conserved ever since.

For there, near the village of San Andrés de Pisimbalá and amidst rugged terrain, is the Tierradentro Archaeological Park, which opened in 1945 and was declared a UNESCO heritage site fifty years later - in 1995. The aim was to ensure that the riches of the pre-Hispanic zone could be preserved, conserved, studied and made known.

The Park is run by the Colombian Anthropology and History Institute, and visitors can enter various important sites dating back not only to the pre-Hispanic period but also to the colonial and republican eras. The underground tombs, or hypogea, and stone statues at the archaeological sites are grouped together in five areas: Loma del Aguacate, Alto de San Andrés, Loma de Segovia, Alto del Duende and El Tablón.

From the colonial and republican eras, the beautiful doctrinal chapel in San Andrés de Pisimbalá, built in 1785, and the Library/Museum House, a nineteenth century building that is home to the Archaeological Museum and the Ethnographic Museum, have been preserved.

Tierradentro and the Gold Museum Exhibition

Tierradentro: between mountains

The Páez: present-day societies living at Tierradentro

Archaeological Parks: Tierradentro