The Archaeological Park of Monquirá, widely called El Infiernito and also associated with Zaquencipa, protects lines of stone columns and larger carved monoliths in the high valley west of Villa de Leyva. The Spanish nickname reflects colonial discomfort with the phallic form of some stones; using the institutional name recognizes a pre-Hispanic place whose meaning is more complex than that label.
Official regional information describes the monuments as at least 2,200 years old and connected with societies ancestral to the later Muisca world. Researchers have interpreted ordered east–west columns through solar observations and agricultural cycles, while larger stones and burials indicate ritual and funerary use. These are evidence-based interpretations, not proof of every “ancient observatory” claim sold to tourists.
