Archaeology and nature: hyblean cultural landscape and territorial ...

and restore an environmentally degraded area. Thus, the Muisca’s indigenous beliefs about nature guided
the “expert knowledge” of the planners for the design and construction of the park. At the same time, the
main elements of the design and composition of the space, such as the trees and fauna, were also
determined by the Muisca cosmology. The park’s environmental educational programs were also developed
by scientists jointly with indigenous expertise. Since Suba has been the home of the Muisca, during the
park’s creation and implementation, all the aspect related with the recovery, renewal and promotion of the
environmental elements of this area were imbibed with cultural principles of this minority. Thus, the
environmental protection was framed in the memory and identity of its indigenous inhabitants.
The park follows Garnham (1985) proposals to link people and space, including elements as diverse as
architectural style, natural settings, memory, metaphor, image, spatial relations, cultural, history and societal
values, public environments and daily and seasonal activities (21); these are also social sustainability
elements. Further, the park is analyzed as a materialization of the social sustainability and the Spirit of Place
relationship.
4.1. Materializing social sustainability and Spirit of Place for cultural preservation relationship
Urban renewal projects and the way they manage to recreate the space are fundamental tools for the
materialization of the Spirit of Place and social sustainability relationship. This relation have to be printed in
the urban space for it to be recognized and used by the people, for it to make the cultural heritage an
essential foundation of sustainable development processes. Mirador de los Nevados park is the place where
the tangible and intangible Muisca cultural representations interact with social sustainability elements that
Colantonio (2011) has called “soft elements” (happiness, well-being and importantly Spirit of Place).
The design of the park is one of the expressions of how, the exaltation of the esthetic, social and spiritual
value of Muisca cultural significance, make the park a place for the improvement of the quality of life of the
Muisca and Suba inhabitant. The park and each of its sections inside are places that correspond to the
understanding of the Place as a specific space characterized by its singular identity (18). It has as a
consequence the representation of the Spirit of Place as the sense wholeness where the parks visitants will
not only feel in a natural environment, but also in a place where they can feel connected to what they are. In
this context, the seven dimension of the social sustainability become active thanks to the Spirit of Place for
cultural heritage preservation materialized in the park Mirador de los Nevados,
Its six circle-shaped hectares, 3 obelisks, 7 rounded squares and several natural trails called “astrologic
paths”, cross the park representing the cosmic space as the Muiscas understood it. The obelisks are placed
in the highest parts of the park, representing the sun’s equinox and winter and summer solstices. They also
symbolize the way the indigenous understood the relationship between the Earth and sun. From the obelisks
it is possible to see the districts of Suba and Engativa and the town of Cota. The squares names honor
Muisca culture: Clock, Astral, Sun (Sué), Bochica, Chiminigagua, Bachue, Moxa Squares. They are further
classified according to specific cosmological functions: 1. Central Squares where the principal attraction is
the water mirror which emphasizes the ancient riverbed that disappeared hundreds of years ago; 2. The
Observatory Squares the aforementioned snow-capped mountains can be viewed, symbolizing peace and
the greatness found in the Mother Earth by the Muiscas; 3. The Astrologic Squares embodying the astral
map used in ancient times by the indigenous; 4. The Entrance Square surrounded by trees and plants, is a
welcoming to the “Muisca Temple of Nature” (11)(3).
Fig. 3 Fig. 4
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