My previous review for this WHS explained how, in Nov 2019, we determined that we had visited 4 towns in the core area (Zone D) of the “Coffee Cultural Landscape” (CCL). We also visited a number of neighbouring “Veredas” (or “rural areas”) including some in “core” areas and some in “buffer zones”. So, what did we make of this WHS - what was its “Heritage value” and was there a coherent story to tell?

We didn’t take a “Finca Tour” in the CCL as we had already done so in other parts of the World where coffee is grown. However, in other coffee producing areas of Colombia we had pleasant and close interactions with “Campesinos”, visiting and talking to them in their homes and seeing them preparing and drying the coffee there from “plant” to “sack”. We had also visited the town of Inza (nr Tierradentro) on its coffee market day and concluded that it was difficult to envisage an area more reliant on the coffee business than it was – certainly the CCL isn’t any more so. See this article about Inza's small coffee growers. Which raises the question as to what is so “special” about the inscribed CCL which raises it above (or at least makes it different from) the multitude of non-inscribed coffee producing areas in Colombia?

It isn’t the quality of the coffee either. We asked Colombians we met whether the coffee from that area was the “best” in Colombia. It appears that it produces a wide range of types and qualities and that there is as good (and as “bad”) in other areas too. Maybe, to the true coffee connoisseur, the differences between coffees are as significant and as noticeable to the palette as different wines, and a good “Aranzazu” is as identifiable as fine “Bordeaux”! Of course the different inscribed wine regions around Europe (and possibly yet around the World?) are not inscribed solely because of the nature and fame of the wine produced at each but because of their differing histories, architectures and landscapes. And there perhaps lies the aspect which ties together the differing locations included within the CCL.

The “Foundation” dates of the 4 towns we visited provide a clue – Salamina 1825, Pacora 1832, Chinchina and Neira 1857. The reason for this is that the area’s “Coffee Landscape” was initially the result of a movement of peoples into an area of Colombia previously largely untouched by non-indigenous people. This took place mainly through the 19th C and is known as the “Antioquian Colonisation”. This comment in the Nomination sets out the “story” of the inscribed landscape as presented in the nominated areas - “There are four distinct periods in the PCC’s historical process. First is the pre-Hispanic or pre-Columbian epoch; second, the Antioquian colonization; third, the expansion of coffee production; and lastly, the fourth period corresponding to the technification of coffee production”. This initial migration is a part of the “national mythology” of Colombia, much as with the Voortrekkers in S Africa and the opening of the West in USA. In modern Manizales there is a powerful monument to that initial migration titled “El Monumento a los Colonizadores”  (well worth seeing if you need to pass through Manizales and have time to spare). A noteworthy aspect of this colonisation was that it was carried out by families who used their own labour to develop the land they had occupied rather than being large landowners with paid servants. This created both a very different type of society than existed elsewhere in Colombia and, at least initially, a different type of land holding with predominantly small production units. The nature of coffee as a crop also required a mixed agricultural economy with a wide variety of other crops and activities. The “story” which the WHS claims to tell is of a landscape which reflects this history.

The first of the 4 “core inscribed” towns we visited was Chinchina. This turned out to be a busy, modern town (it has suffered several earthquakes) with no noteworthy “built” historical heritage whatsoever. What were we meant to be looking for/at? We visited the helpful tourist office in the main square and asked about the Coffee Landscape attributes of the place. First we were referred to a giant coffee cup in the square which had won Chinchina a place in the Guiness Book of Records for the “Largest cup of coffee in the World”!! Next we were told where the modern “Buencafe” freeze drying coffee factory was. Also about “Cenicafe”, the nearby Coffee Research Institute. I have checked, and both of these organisations get their share of pages in the Nomination file!! These are examples of what the Nomination calls the “technification” stage of development of the landscape. We later attempted to visit the Buencafe factory but it was of no architectural value and inaccessible – I even got shouted at by security guards for photographing it through the fence!! Finally we were told that we should visit nearby “Alto de la Paz” which was the “Paisaje cafeteria mas hermosa de Colombia”. How could we miss such a place? So we left the “town” and passed under one of the brown PCC signs into a "rural area!! Both the UNESCO “Zone” and the Municipality maps show Chinchina to be surrounded by one of the most extensive rural core areas in the entire WHS – the “Vereda” of La Paz is clearly a part of that core area and is only a few kms out. But what we saw was unlike any of the coffee areas we had seen before in Colombia - we had entered a new world of industrialised coffee growing - a monoculture of coffee bushes as far as the eye could see, stretching over every hill. The Nomination file (page 265) calls it “High tech full sun monoculture” and ICOMOS wasn’t very pleased with this, wondering, in that case, what was left from the past! The mixed planting of small fincas, common elsewhere in Columbia, was totally missing. The coffee was still growing on what were sometimes precipitous slopes and we were told that all picking was still carried out by hand. Presumably much of it finishes up in the factory being freeze dried. The view from the top down into Chinchina and across vast areas of coffee fields was striking. We were certainly seeing a “Coffee Landscape”! The location is at 4.971174, -75.620916.

Our next “core” town was Salamina. We spent 2 nights there and it turned out to be a very pleasant, relatively small and still un-touristy town with many streets of attractive buildings dating from its foundation in 1825 through the 19thC. There was almost no jarringly 20th C development whatsoever. We preferred it over Salento which we found to be totally turned over to tourism – Salamina on the other hand clearly has an extensive “real life” as a town. Both have similar brightly coloured houses with overhanging roofs and intricate carved wood and fretwork balconies, doors etc (photo). The Nomination file states for Salamina that it is “one of the most ornate towns—is famous for its woodwork by Eliseo Tangarife, shown off as a great masterpiece that adorns many of the town’s houses”. After modern Chinchina, it also takes one much closer to the origins of Coffee in this part of Columbia. The town’s “Casa de Cultura” contains mementos etc of the earliest immigrants and other references to those early “pioneers” abound. We got the feeling however that coffee had perhaps “moved away” from the town somewhat compared with previous years – there were no dealers with sacks of coffee outside etc as we had seen in Inza but the town still contains a major building in the form of the “Coffee Growers Committee”. The Municipal map shows the inscribed core rural areas to be situated to the west of the town and not passed through in any major way on the road up from the South or going further North.

We had a spare afternoon and decided to drive the c35kms from Salamina to another “core inscribed” town at Pacora. The rough road provided fine scenery (and amazing views of Salamina on its mountain top), dropping into a deep canyon with plenty of small fincas growing coffee in traditional mode with mixed planting (but not in a core area). Later it climbed high into forest and passed under a brown sign with a UNESCO logo indicating that we had entered “Pacora PCC”. But all around were pine forests, sugar cane, avocados and pasture for cattle and horses. Not a coffee bush in sight!! The Municipal map confirms that this area is not “core inscribed”. Pacora is smaller than Salamina but founded around the same time. Its “period” architecture seemed less fine and one wondered how much of it was new but built to look authentic. The Nomination file describes its church as an example of “Eclectic Historicism”, i.e a mixture of almost everything! We found our UNESCO logo in the Plaza Mayor and went for a coffee (!!). Several farmers were in and I asked about where the coffee was grown – “further down” they said “the climate’s not right here”. So there you have it – Pacora town is inscribed as part of the core CL and the whole of the “Municipality” claims its UNESCO logo. But the rural core area is only further down. The Nomination file (PDF page 256) states that Pacora, like the other core inscribed towns, provides “valuable examples of the conservation of outstanding characteristics that distinguish the architecture of the colonization”. Maybe – but if you have already seen Salamina then Pacora has little to offer. Our final core town visit was to Neira. It had even less of note than Pacora!

So - Salamina is undoubtedly the “star” town. It is, in our view, one of the most attractive historic towns in Colombia for its architecture, its setting and its general ambiance - and a nice destination within the CCL. On the other hand, despite being a “core inscribed” urban area, the town of Chinchina is not worth visiting. If you are passing through anyway, however, it is worth visiting the nearby rural areas to see what “technified” coffee production looks like.

Overall our view is that this WHS is an ill-formed "monster" which tries to cover every base across a huge area. It would have been far better if the site had been limited to the best historic aspects of the Antioquian Migration – but that of course would not have met the Coffee marketing aspirations of the entire region!