Colombia plans a $13 million makeover of San Agustin Archaeological Park, South America’s largest pre-colonial site, reported newspaper Diario del Huila Tuesday.
The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) will spent $9 million on redesigning and modernizing the UNESCO World Heritage Site, in which more than 500 imposing stone statues cover more than 2000 square kilometres, in the southern department of Huila.
Another $4 million will pay to improve infrastructure projects such as the construction of roads and a bus terminal.
ICANH deputy director Ernesto Montenegro says the organization is looking to redesign the park for the 21 century in honor its upcoming 100-year anniversary, according to Diario del Huila.
San Agustin mayor Edgar Martin Lara along with Jose Ader Castro Pisso, the secretary of Culture and Tourism in Huila, have been finalizing the details of the project, to be presented over the next 15 days.
Most of the park’s statues were part of the funeral paraphernalia of the area’s ancient inhabitants, according to the Colombian government’s official tourist website, and harnessed the spiritual power of the dead and the supernatural world.