CARTAGENA´S PECULIAR DOOR KNOCKERS

August 31, 2017 SouthAmerica

The Caribbean Colonial city of Cartagena in northern Colombia has some rather big knockers. The historic city, surrounded by Spanish stone walls, features narrow streets, two to three storied buildings with balconies, and massive double wooden doors. Such big doors require big knockers. Specialized door knockers can be found in other South American countries, particularly the hand clasping a ball design seen Cusco and Arequipa, Peru.

Although, in Cartagena they go well beyond this- these knockers are bigger. And they feature bearded faces, lions, lizards, and sea monsters. Yes, the joke was used in Young Frankenstein, but Cartagena has done it for real and in a wider variety of styles. You can wander this 17^th century city finding knockers on interesting doors that are just as photogenic, and fashioned for strength to withstand the pirate raids of history. Besides the knockers, it’s worth a trip to Cartagena to see this colonial Spanish city.