Parque de la Independencia

This guide to Parque de la Independencia in Bogotá opens in 1910, when President Rafael Reyes built the park almost overnight for the centennial of independence, filling it with pavilions that had nothing to do with Colombia: an iron machinery hall, an Egyptian temple front, and a garden folly modeled on one built for Marie Antoinette at Versailles. A 1957 elevated highway, pushed toward the new airport, later cut straight through the park's southern half. Look for the little folly called La Luz, designed by the Italian architect Pietro Cantini, as you walk the grounds.