Virgilio Barco Library
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Virgilio Barco Library
Virgilio Barco Public Library is a Public library in the western sector of Bogotá, Colombia, is part of BibloRed, the District's Public Library Network. The building was designed by architect Rogelio Salmona, and forms part of the Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park. Its inauguration took place on December 21, 2001, named after former President Virgilio Barco Vargas. The design of the building is notable for its emphasis of Water resources, water management, with water pools on the outside. The library and its surrounding park together form one of seven sites which make up the serial property "The architectural legacy of Rogelio Salmona: an ethical, political, social and poetic manifesto." Colombia's permanent delegation to UNESCO submitted the site to the country's World Heritage Site#Nomination process, Tentative List for the World Heritage List in 2022. Architecture The library building was designed by Rogelio Salmona, also known for the Torres del Parque, the National Archiv ...
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Rogelio Salmona
Rogelio Salmona (April 28, 1929 – October 3, 2007) was a French Colombian architect. He was noted for his extensive use of red brick in his buildings and for using natural shapes like spirals, radial geometry and curves in his designs. During the latter part of his life, Salmona gained renown thanks to awards like the first prize at the 1986, 1988, and 1990 Colombian Architecture Biennials, and the Alvar Aalto Medal in 2003. His works are highly representative of Colombian architecture at the end of the twentieth century. Early life and education Salmona was born in Paris, but moved at an early age to Bogotá, Colombia, where he studied at the French Lyceum Louis Pasteur. Upon graduating, he enrolled in the architecture program at the National University of Colombia, then led by German and Italian architects Leopoldo Rother and Bruno Violi. During Le Corbusier's trip to Colombia in 1947, young Salmona was invited by the great architect to work with him at his atelier in P ...
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Public Library
A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries: # they are generally supported by taxes (usually local, though any level of government can and may contribute); # they are governed by a board to serve the public interest; # they are open to all, and every community member can access the collection; # they are entirely voluntary, no one is ever forced to use the services provided; and # they provide library and information services without charge. Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Public libraries are distinct from research library, research libraries, school library, school libraries, a ...
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Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city of Colombia, and one of the List of largest cities, largest cities in the world. The city is administered as the Capital District, as well as the capital of, though not politically part of, the surrounding department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. Bogotá is a territorial entity of the first order, with the same administrative status as the departments of Colombia. It is the main political, economic, administrative, industrial, cultural, aeronautical, technological, scientific, medical and educational center of the country and northern South America. Bogotá was founded as the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada on 6 August 1538 by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada after a harsh Spanish conquest of the Muisca, e ...
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BibloRed
BibloRed is the District network of Public Libraries and Alternative Reading Spaces of Bogotá, Colombia. It is a system that seeks to provide citizens with the opportunities to engage with books, reading, writing, orality, culture, research, science, technology, and innovation. Its 145 spaces operate under the guidance of the Mayor's Office of Bogotá, initially through its Secretariat of Education (2001–2013) and later through its Secretariat of Culture, Recreation and Sports (2013 - Currently). Since 1998, BibloRed has managed information and knowledge, promoted inclusion in written culture, and encouraged the development of oral skills among the city's inhabitants. Furthermore, its spaces are open for the public construction of knowledge and the cultural empowerment of communities. Through these means, it fosters freedom and social as well as individual prosperity as fundamental tools for human development. Governance structure In 2024, BibloRed comprises 145 reading s ...
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Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park
Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus authority ''Simon'' * Tribe of Simeon, one of the twelve tribes of Israel Places * Şimon (), a village in Bran Commune, Braşov County, Romania * Șimon, a right tributary of the river Turcu in Romania Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Simon'' (1980 film), starring Alan Arkin * ''Simon'' (2004 film), Dutch drama directed by Eddy Terstall * ''Simón'' (2018 film), Venezuelan short film directed by Diego Vicentini * ''Simón'' (2023 film), Venezuelan feature film directed by Diego Vicentini Games * ''Simon'' (game), a popular computer game * Simon Says, children's game Literature * ''Simon'' (Sutcliff novel), a children's historical novel written by Rosemary Sutcliff * Simon (Sand novel), an 1835 novel by George Sand * ' ...
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Virgilio Barco Vargas
Virgilio Barco Vargas (17 September 1921 – 20 May 1997) was a Colombian politician and civil engineer who served as the 27th President of Colombia serving from 7 August 1986 to 7 August 1990. Early life Barco was born in Cúcuta in the Norte de Santander Department of Colombia to Jorge Enrique Barco Maldonado and Julieta Vargas Durán. He studied Civil Engineering at the National University of Colombia and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from which he graduated in 1943. He entered politics in 1943 when he became a city council member for the Liberal Party in the town of Durania. He was then elected to the lower house of Congress, but went into exile to the US in 1950 because of violence between liberals and conservatives. His daughter, Carolina Barco Isakson (who would later become a Colombian politician herself) was born there. He obtained an M.A. in economics at MIT, where he took classes under Nobel Prize winners Robert Solow and Paul Samuelson in 1952. In ...
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Water Resources
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either Fresh water, freshwater from natural sources, or water produced artificially from other sources, such as from reclaimed water (wastewater) or Desalination, desalinated water (seawater). 97% of the water on Earth is saline water, salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightly over two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar climate, polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. Natural sources of fresh water include surface water, under river flow, groundwater and ice, frozen water. People use water resources for agriculture, agricultural, Industry (economics), industrial and household activities. Water resources are under threat from multiple issues. There is water scarcity, water p ...
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World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity". To be selected, a World Heritage Site is nominated by its host country and determined by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to be a unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable, having a special cultural or physical significance, and to be under a sufficient system of legal protection. World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains or wilderness areas, and others. A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humankind and serve as evidence of humanity's intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of grea ...
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Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, particularly in the Spanish language, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha Pardo; they had two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo. García Márquez started as a journalist and wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories. He is best known for his novels, such as ''No One Writes to the Colonel'' (1961), '' One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (1967), which has sold over fifty million copies worldwide, '' Chronicle of a Death Foretold'' (1981) ...
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Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past role as a link in the route to the West Indies provides it with important historical value for world exploration and preservation of heritage from the great commercial maritime routes. As a former Spanish colony, it was a key port for the export of Bolivian silver to Spain and for the import of enslaved Africans under the asiento system. It was defensible against pirate attacks in the Caribbean. The city's strategic location between the Magdalena and Sinú rivers also gave it easy access to the interior of New Granada and made it a main port for trade between Spain and its overseas empire, establishing its importance by the early 1540s. Modern Cartagena is the capital of the Bolívar Department, and had a population of 876,885 according to the 2018 census, mak ...
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National University Of Colombia
The National University of Colombia () is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, Cesar. Established in 1867 by an act of the Congress of Colombia, it is one of the largest universities in the country, with more than 53,000 students. The university grants academic degrees and offers 450 academic programmes, including 95 undergraduate degrees, 83 academic specializations, 40 medical specialties, 167 master's degrees, and 65 doctorates. Approximately 44,000 students are enrolled for an undergraduate degree and 8,000 for a postgraduate degree. It is also one of the few universities that employs postdoctorate fellows in the country. The university is a member of the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN), the Iberoamerican Association of Postgraduate Universities (AUIP), and the Iberoamerican University Network ...
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