Mompox

Founded in 1540, Santa Cruz de Mompox (also rendered Mompos) served as a key river port during the Spanish colonial period. Situated on an island in the Magdalena River, Mompox allowed trade to move deep inland from coastal Cartagena. Shipping brought prosperity, spawning the construction of elegant residences and six grand churches.

Mompox was also the first Colombian town to declare independence from the Viceroyalty of New Granada—earning the admiration of Simón Bolívar. Over time, civil unrest and shifts in the river’s course diminished its strategic role. That decline, however, helped preserve its architectural treasures. Today, a very high percentage of its religious and domestic architecture is still used as originally intended.

In honor of the city’s “remarkable level of intactness” UNESCO declared Mompox a World Heritage Site in 1995. Today, the town feels untouched by time—its days drifting by like the river that shaped it. The Rio Magdalena even inspired its main road to curve organically, shrugging off the square civic plans of most colonial towns.