Getsemaní Street Art Tour

We took a three-hour street art tour in Getsemaní, just outside the walled city of Cartagena. We covered Calle de la Sierpe, Calle San Juan, Calle del Espíritu Santo, and Plaza de la Trinidad.

We saw large-scale murals painted directly onto residential walls, corner shops, and former warehouses.

The dominant subjects are people: Afro-Caribbean women, children, elders, musicians, boxers, dockworkers, and street vendors.

Many portraits represent real residents or archetypes drawn from neighborhood life rather than fictional figures. Common visual elements include braids, drums, fruit baskets, fishing nets, and clenched fists—symbols tied to labor, culture, resistance, and identity.

Our guide explained how Getsemaní functioned historically as a working-class, Afro-descendant neighborhood, separate from the elite colonial center. Murals often reference independence history, informal economies, and social memory. Artists include Cartagena locals alongside Colombian and international muralists, with styles ranging from photorealism to graphic illustration and text-based protest art.

Getsemaní has undergone a rapid gentrification process. Here’s the high level timeline.

Pre-2000s: Predominantly residential, low rents, minimal tourism, limited infrastructure.

Early–mid 2000s: Restoration of Cartagena’s historic center increases spillover interest; artists and backpackers begin arriving.

2010–2015: Street art expands rapidly; hostels, cafés, and bars open; Getsemaní gains international visibility.

2016–2019: Property values rise sharply; boutique hotels replace family homes; resident displacement accelerates.

2020–present: Heavily touristed cultural zone; street art remains but increasingly coexists with commercial branding and regulated tours.

On the ground, this represents a 5–8× increase in property values over roughly 20 years.

Pre-2000s, Getsemaní had an estimated 8,000–10,000 residents, mostly Afro-descendant, working-class families. Today, estimates suggest fewer than 2,000 permanent residents remain. This implies 60–75% displacement, driven by rising rents, property taxes, sales to investors, and conversion of homes into boutique hotels, hostels, and short-term rentals.

Private three hour tour + transport $108.Read more