An exhibition of giant sand sculptures, featuring replicas of 40 Wonders of the World, opens in Bogota on October 20 and runs until December 31.
Under a tent at Bogota’s Coliseo El Campin, the world’s best sand sculptors have worked for months to recreate the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, the Mayan and Aztec pyramids, the Lost City of Atlantis, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and many more.
The sand was brought over from the Sumapaz River, where experts determined the grains were the right consistency for building monuments up to 26 feet tall (equivalent to the third story of a building).
The project is directed by Dutch artist Eppo Vogel, who holds two Guinness World Records for the tallest sand sculptures in the world.
When rumors of the exhibition, the first of its kind in Latin America, first reached Barranquilla-born sculptor Raimundo Charris, he set out for Bogota to watch the foreign artisans at their craft.
“I starting working as a laborer for two weeks, and slowly have earned a place,” Charris happily reported to El Espectador. Charris is one of four Colombians at work on the project.
The project, “Maravillas del Mundo en Arena,” put on by entertainment company Urban Focus, will be open each day from 8AM to 8PM.
Tickets run between $5 and $13. Call 6091111 for more information, or visit the event website.