The Immigrant Route is a tribute to the travelers who entered the country through the Puerto Colombia dock, highlighting the architectural, gastronomic legacy, and the material and intangible heritage that makes this territory an ideal place for Colombian Caribbean Tourism.

We invite you to explore the magic of Puerto Colombia and its places of interest!

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Legacy

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Travel the world in the Main Plaza of Puerto Colombia, take photos with our immigrants and upload them to social networks, tagging @fpuertocolombia with the #immigrantroute.

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stories

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Thanks to the support of the Pintuco Foundation, we paid tribute to families descended from immigrants who entered through the Puerto Colombia dock and still reside in the municipality.
Visit the Ancla, La Rosita and Centro 2 neighborhoods; If your last name is of German, Italian, French or Spanish origin, it may be captured in these works of art.

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Hotel Esperia

On June 17, 1934, the Hotel lEsperia was inaugurated. Its design is in the Art Deco style, its owner was the Italian Ángelo Bonfati, who with his wife Maria Zonzini, arrived in Colombia on July 16, 1928 through the Puerto Colombia Dock fleeing the schools of the First World War.

 

This hotel had great national and international recognition, it had a rear terrace that was inside the sea, it was called the “Marine Terrace”, where parties and nautical competitions related to fishing were held.

 Illustrious personalities from politics, performing arts, and literature stayed here, such as Greta Garbo, Alfonso López Pumarejo, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Enrique Olaya Herrera, Julio Mario Santodomingo, Gabriel García Márquez, among others.


The esperia is the only hotel that has preserved its architecture from the golden age of the Pier. The Council of Puerto Colombia declared it a Municipal Asset of Cultural Interest and it is part of the ADN (Orange Development Area) property inventory.

Lascar House

This house was built between the 1940s and 1950s. Its first owner was investors Matera & Caggiano Limitada, it was later acquired by the Foreign Investment Board of the Southern Baptist Convention – Sucural Colombia. 

The house is located in the central area of ​​the municipality of Puerto Colombia, the train line and the
“Colombia Avenue”; and at the back it had access to the beaches of the Pier.

The brothers Salomón, Emilio, Elías and Isaac Lascar Lascar, arrived at the Colombia port dock in 1910 from Lebanon. Despite the language, they settled in Fundación (Magdalena), Baranoa (Atlántico) and Asambalema (Tolima).

With them came Jose Antonio Jorge Lascar, a boy of approximately 10 years old, who would later become the father of Jorge Elías Lascar Gonzáles, born in Puerto Colombia. Jorge Elías worked in the tourism sector from a very young age, exactly in the renowned Viña del Mar restaurant.

The young man of Arab blood dreamed of one day acquiring this house for his large family that he saw every day on the way to work, which he managed to buy thanks to his retirement.

Marian Sanctuary Our Lady of Carmen

On January 20, 1919, the first stone of the temple was laid and in 1924 its construction was completed. It has a Florentine neo-Gothic style design, as it combines French and Italian Gothic elements.

The temple was initially called Nuestra Señora del Carmen, however, on May 13, 1987, it was declared a Marian Sanctuary, the first in the Department in the Atlantic due to the pilgrimage of numerous faithful for the request of mercy to the virgin.

 

On February 16, 1995, the Municipal Council of Puerto Colombia declared it a Historical Cultural Monument of Puerto Colombia, and it is also part of the ADN (Orange Development Area) property inventory.

La imagen de la virgen del Carmen ingresó por el muelle de puerto colombia aproximadamente en 1903. La pieza de arte religioso típico barcelonés, fue encargada por Doña Beatriz Aycardi, para la Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Rosario en Barranquilla.
Doña Vicente Peñate de Ariza, attached to the Franciscan religious order, was in charge of organizing the town's religious festivals, and every July 16 she requested the loan of the virgin to celebrate the patron saint's festivities. In 12, at the request of parishioners and port workers, the image was officially donated to Puerto Colombia to be “The Patron Saint” of this municipality.

CITY HALL

In 1928, the Municipal Palace was built by the architect Luis Gutierrez de la Hoz, through a loan made by Mr. Elías Muvdi.

Its inauguration was in 1929, its style is from the Republican period with a clay tile roof. The windows on the lower floor have a semicircular arch and those on the upper floor are symmetrical in a rectangular shape.

The first organized public market that the municipality had was located on its first floor, a social meeting space for the town's inhabitants.

The Council of Puerto Colombia declared it
A municipal asset of Cultural Interest is also part of the ADN (Orange Development Area) property inventory.

Pradomar Hotel

In 1944, the Pradomar Hotel was inaugurated, built on the shores of the Caribbean Sea with a design alluding to the Republican period. THE property was the Beach Club of the Hotel el Prado in Barranquilla, the first tourist hotel in Latin America.

At the end of the 60s, the place was deteriorated and Messrs. Don Luis Heberto Álvarez, together with his wife, Doña Bernarda Torres, rented it in 1970, in order to recover it and fulfill a dream, to contemplate the most beautiful sunsets of this corner of the Colombian Caribbean.

 Don Luis Álvarez died in 1976 and his wife took on the challenge of being the administrator of this hotel along with his sons Luis, Samuel and Juan, the latter the creator of Kilymandiaro.
The Pradomar hotel established itself as one of the tourist sites with great national and international recognition, becoming a source of employment for the Buenos Aires population. Therefore, the Council of Puerto Colombia declared it a municipal Asset of Cultural Interest.

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal Church

In the 19th century, the first church in the town of Salgar was built, which was located near the railroad tracks and the seashore; However, due to continuous flooding it was relocated several times.

Santa Isabel de Portugal Church It was thus that in 1922 the current Salgar church was inaugurated, paying tribute to Santa Isabel de Portugal, its new patron saint, her image was donated by Mrs. Rosa María Marimón and comes from the Iberian Peninsula.

 

When it was installed, the entire town welcomed it with white flags, since it would be the one who would protect them from the next floods.

The 1930s were called the “Salgar Catastrophe”, due to the strong attacks of the sea, a time where parishioners witnessed the miracles of their patron saint because the church remained standing. The Santa Isabel de Portugal parish has a neocolonial style design in its floor plan and columns, in addition, it has a Gothic influence in its windows, doors and floors.

The Dock

In 1887, The Barranquilla Railway & Pier Company was created, whose Colombian representative was the Cuban engineer Francisco Javier Cisneros, who was appointed to direct the construction of the Puerto Colombia pier.

Thus, in 1888 the construction of this great work began, which at the time would become the third longest pier in the world. On June 15, 1893, the Puerto Colombia Dock was inaugurated. It had a length of 1,200 meters and a depth of 8 meters, making it optimal for docking ships of the time.

The first steamers to dock at the Dock were the English Alvo and Atrato; The German Galitzia and the Frances Saint Laurent. Due to the commercial boom that generated greater port movement, it was decided to expand it by 137 meters and to cover the Dock in particular. This work was assumed by Mr. Juan Antonio Colina, originally from Sabanilla, who was General Foreman.

Thus, between 1918 and 1923, the respective works were carried out. In 1943, due to the opening of Bocas de Ceniza, the docking of ships in the Colombia port was prohibited and the lifting of the railway tracks was ordered.

In 1998, the Ministry of Culture declared it an Asset of National Cultural Interest and in 2016 the intervention works on the pier began because it had deteriorated due to natural factors, so on July 5, 2019, the construction work began. complete demolition. On January 22, 2022, the 200 meters of the new dock were delivered.

Saler Castle

In 1806 during the colony, on the hill known as San Antonio, a one-story fort equipped with four cannons was built by the Spanish Crown, in order to protect access to the Magdalena River.

This place is known as Salgar Castle because it was a surveillance post for the Spanish monarchy in its time.

Once independence was achieved, General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera ordered in 1871 the construction of a new colonial-style masonry building for the customs headquarters, which functioned until 1876.

Later, in 1885 it was used as a war prison for the revolutionaries of the “Toma de Barranquilla”.

In 1893 it was used as an intermediate station for the Bolívar Railway, which linked Barranquilla with Puerto Colombia.

Salgar Castle was completely abandoned in 1943 with the lifting of the railways, therefore, the Atlantic Government granted permits for schools, restaurants and social centers to operate in its facilities.

In 1998 the Ministry of Culture declared it an Asset of National Cultural Interest.

Train station

The first headquarters of the Railway Station was built by The Barranquilla Railway & Pier Company Limited, it stood between 1918 and 1922. However, with the covering of the pier in particular it was also decided to do so with the Station, Thus, on December 5, 1923, the new headquarters was inaugurated with a republican style design, becoming one of the first works made of cement imported from Denmark.

 

The Railway Station functioned as an office for the dispatch of trains, the sale of first and second class tickets, as well as the identification of luggage and the lounge for passengers traveling to Barranquilla, due to that this was the only means of transportation at the time.

In 1943 it was abandoned, because the seaport was moved to Barranquilla, however, the Municipal Council, the House of Culture and the Municipal Public Library functioned in its facilities. Because it belongs to the National Heritage Complex of the Passenger Stations of the Colombian Railway, it was declared in 1996 by the Ministry of Culture of National Cultural Interest.

It is currently managed by the Puerto Colombia Foundation.

Telegraph House

This house is located in the Costa Azul neighborhood, declared an Asset of Departmental Cultural Interest in 2013.

It was built at the beginning of the 20th century and its design is typical Antillean style, a model implemented by the French, English and Americans in the Caribbean. The predominant material in this construction is sawn wood and 80% is preserved.

Its structure evokes the concept of naturalism, with functional corridors that allow air circulation to reduce the high temperatures of the Caribbean. The first telegraph in the area operated on January 29, 1872 and connected the Port of Sabanilla with Barranquilla.

With the extension of the Bolívar Railway to Puerto Colombia, telegraph wires of the first communication system that worked in this house were installed parallel to the railway tracks.

In 1943, with the suspension of the railway service and the lifting of the railway tracks, it was deduced that the wireless telegraph would arrive in Puerto Colombia, also known as the Marconi system.


The telegraph was a device created in parallel by Samuel F. B Morse, Charles Wheatstone and William F. Cook, however, the most recognized was that of Samuel Morse, because he also created the Morse code. The telegraph transmitted coded information through electrical signals through a wire line or radio communications, therefore, it was considered the first means of electrical communication.