Guadalupe Hill

Guadalupe Hill
Guadalupe Hill seen from Monserrate
Highest point
Elevation	3,360 m (11,020 ft)[1]
Coordinates	4°35′31″N 74°03′15″W / 4.59194°N 74.05417°W / 4.59194; -74.05417
Naming
Native name	Cerro de Guadalupe (Spanish)
Geography
Guadalupe Hill
City	Bogotá, Colombia
Parent range	Eastern Hills Altiplano Cundiboyacense Eastern Ranges Andes
Geology
Age of rock	Guadalupe Group (type locality) Campanian-Maastrichtian
Mountain type	Thrusted mountain
Climbing
First ascent	Pre-Columbian era
Easiest route	Pilgrimage trail Avenida Circunvalar→Road to Choachí

Guadalupe Hill is a 3,360-metre (11,020 ft) high hill located in the Eastern Hills, uphill from the centre of Bogotá, Colombia. Together with its neighbouring hill Monserrate it is one of the landmarks of Bogotá. At the top of the hill a hermitage and a 15-metre (49 ft) high statue has been erected. The statue was elaborated by sculptor Gustavo Arcila Uribe in 1946 and is accompanied by a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Guadalupe Hill is the type locality of the Guadalupe Group, a Late Cretaceous sedimentary sequence of sandstones and shales of 750 metres (2,460 ft) thick. The formation is being thrust on top of younger strata by the reverse Bogotá Fault as a result of the ongoing Andean orogeny. The hill is the source for the Manzanares and El Chuscal creeks that flow westwards onto the Bogotá savanna.

Historically, Guadalupe Hill was an important sacred site for the indigenous Muisca, who inhabited the Bogotá savanna and surrounding regions before the Spanish conquest. During the colonial period, Guadalupe Hill contained a cross and the hermitage that was destroyed by various earthquakes in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On Sundays, Guadalupe Hill and its chapel and statue are visited by tourists and pilgrims from Bogotá, accessing the hill either by road and public transport or via a walking trail to the hilltop.