Heart of Colombia Ceramics – December 2018
We spent a day in Carmen de Viboral. The small pueblo is filled with pottery shops, not visited by many tourists, and only a two hour bus ride northeast from Medellin.
Ceramics industry – The ceramic pieces on display and for sale in this town of about 46,000 people are not mass produced nor made with machines. Most of the local pottery stores sell tableware, kitchen utensils, washbasins, candlesticks, and vases. Queen Elizabeth II owns several ceramic pieces from this pueblo. While visiting several ceramic shops in search of a souvenir or two, Susan saw several women painting delicate flowers and words on cups and plates without the use of stencils or pre-printed patterns. Floral designs are very common details on ceramics from this pueblo. Painting one plate usually takes about 30 minutes.
Ceramics Around Town – As we walked through the streets we noticed quite a few mosaics made from pieces of ceramic tile on building walls and on the sidewalk. Paseo de Angel is a popular tourist spot because of the angel wings mosaic at the end of the pedestrian side street. As you can guess from the picture below, many tourists stop to take a picture. Along other streets quite a few shop exteriors were decorated with ceramic plates embedded into the walls. We looked for the Ceramics Museum described in Trip Advisor, but were never able to locate it.
Parque Principal – While we sat in the main plaza we watched children play and maintenance workers put up Christmas lights and decorations. The town’s Christmas lights are turned on December 7, a week later than the festive lights in Medellin.
Parroquia Nuestra Senora – The modern design of the largest church in Carmen de Viboral almost looks out of place with the style of stores and restaurants around the plaza. The iglesia was built in 1962 after a large earthquake destroyed the previous church. During our day in the town we saw two large groups of people gathering for funerals. We also noticed signs on the sidewalk by the main church doors announcing memorial services to honor the first, second, or fourth anniversary of individuals’ deaths.
