Guatape Rock

The Big Guatape Rock

The Rock of Guatape is a landmark inselberg also known as The Stone of El Peñol in Colombia. It is located in the town and municipality of Guatapé, Antioquia. 

The town of El Peñol, which borders Guatapé, has also historically claimed the rock as their own and thus has led to different names for the site.

The landform is a granitic rock remnant that has resisted weathering and erosion, likely as a result of being less fractured than the surrounding bedrock.

Peñón de Guatapé is an outcrop of the Antioquia Batholith and towers up to 200 meters (656 feet) above its base. 

Visitors can scale the rock via a staircase built into one side, a path that includes more than 649 steps to the top.

Near the base of the Rock, there are food and market stalls for shopping. About halfway up the stairs, there is a shrine to the Virgin Mary. The summit contains a three-story viewpoint tower, a convenience store, and a seating area.

The indigenous Tahamí, former inhabitants of this region, worshiped the rock and called it in their language mojarrá (meaning "rock" or "stone").

The rock was first climbed officially in July 1954, when Luis Villegas, Pedro Nel Ramirez, and Ramón Díaz climbed the rock in a five-day endeavor, using sticks that were fixed against the rock's wall.

A new species of plant, named Pitcairnia heterophylla by a German scientist, was found on the top of the rock.

A viewing spot was built on top of the rock, where it is possible to acquire handicrafts, postcards, and other local goods. The uppermost steps atop the building at the summit, a fact reinforced by yellow numbers also seen in the climb up the stairs.

In the 1940s, the Colombian government declared it a National Monument.

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