Hotel Tequendama
The Hotel Tequendama is a historic hotel located in central Bogotá, Colombia.
Hotel Tequendama | |
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Hotel Tequendama at night, aerial view | |
Location of Hotel Tequendama in Bogotá | |
Etymology | Muysccubun |
General information | |
Status | In use |
Address | Carrera 10 #26-21 |
Town or city | Bogotá |
Country | Colombia |
Coordinates | 4°36′46″N 74°4′22″W |
Elevation | 2,598 metres (8,524 ft) |
Construction started | 1952 |
Completed | 1953 |
Inaugurated | 17 May 1953 |
Owner | Sercotel |
Height | 70 metres (230 ft) |
Designations | Hotel |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 573 |
Website | |
Official website |
History
The hotel is a national monument in the capital of Colombia. It was inaugurated as the Hotel Tequendama Intercontinental, part of the Intercontinental Hotels chain, with a banquet on May 17, 1953.[1] Between 1959 and 1962, a new wing was added that doubled the hotel's capacity.[2] In the hotel lobby, a mural depicting the deities of the Muisca religion, has been painted by Luis Alberto Acuña.[3]
The 5-star hotel forms part of the Centro Internacional Tequendama complex constructed between 1950 and 1982,[4] and is considered a national monument in Bogotá. Between 1947 and 1959, the architects Le Corbusier and Wiener-Sert participated in the design of the Tequendama central complex.[5] It hosts 537 rooms, a spa, convention centre and various other amenities. With 70 metres (230 ft), it is the seventy-fifth tallest building in Colombia and 33rd tallest in Bogotá.[6] During the 1980s, Pablo Escobar celebrated festivities in the hotel.[7]
In January 2007, after being an InterContinental for 53 years, the hotel was rebranded to InterContinental's business-class brand as the Crowne Plaza Tequendama Bogota.[8] In January 2016, the hotel left the InterContinental chain completely and began operating as an independent hotel.[9]
Etymology
Tequendama is a word derived from the Chibcha language of the Muisca, who inhabited the Bogotá savanna in the times before the Spanish conquest. It means "he who precipitates downward".[10]
Gallery
- View of the hotel
- Hotel view with TransMilenio bus
- Hotel Tequendama to the left, Avenida Calle 26 and Monserrate in the background
- Mural of the Muisca deities in the lobby of the hotel
See also
References
- (in Spanish) El Hotel Tequendama de aniversario - El Tiempo
- (in Spanish) Ciudad y arquitectura moderna en Colombia - 1950-1970
- (in Spanish) Hotel Tequendama - Un mundo de fantasmas - El Tiempo
- Fontana & Mayorga, 2008, p.99
- Fontana & Mayorga, 2013, p.58
- (in Spanish) Edificios más altos de Colombia
- Murcia Piraquive, 2010, p.66
- https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4028798.html
- http://www.reportur.com/colombia/2016/01/26/tequendama-finalizan-contrato-con-ihg-que-operaba-con-crown-plaza/
- (in Spanish) Etymology Tequendama
"In Bogota" - Joan Didion, _The White Album_
Bibliography
- Fontana, María Pía, and Miguel Y. Mayorga Cárdenas. 2013. De centro moderno a centralidad urbana: el conjunto Tequendama-Bavaria, 1950-1982 en Bogotá - From modern centre to urban centre: the Tequendama-Bavaria metropolitan area in Bogotá, 1950-1982, 56-75. Universidad de los Andes. Accessed 2016-08-22.
- Fontana, María Pía, and Miguel Y. Mayorga Cárdenas. 2008. Sector 2 - Centro Internacional, 98-106. Accessed 2016-08-22.
- Murcia Piraquive, Angélica. 2010. Hotel Tequendama (1953-2009): un microcosmos de la Bogotá Cosmopolita (M.A.), 7-139. Universidad La Javeriana. Accessed 2016-08-22.