Hernán Díaz and Cartagena | Delirio Hotel Collection
Cartagena outside. Hernán Díaz’s Cartagena inside
At Delirio, Cartagena does not end when you close the hotel door.
In our rooms, lobby and courtyard, you will find an important collection of photographs by the renowned Colombian photographer Hernán Díaz, whose work documented Colombia in the 20th century like few others and left an exceptional testimony of Cartagena, its streets, architecture and people.
Delirio holds the rights to an extensive collection of these photographs, which form part of the hotel’s identity and allow our guests to discover another Cartagena: the city of decades past, which engages in a dialogue with the Cartagena they find today just outside our door.
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WHO WAS HERNÁN DÍAZ?
Hernán Díaz (1931–2009) was one of the most distinguished Colombian photographers of the second half of the 20th century. Born in Ibagué and trained in photography in the United States, he developed an extensive career as a photographer and portraitist, documenting notable figures, cities and defining moments in Colombian life.
His work gained national and international recognition. His photographs and photo essays appeared in publications such as Life and Time, as well as in leading Colombian media outlets. Throughout his career, he held numerous exhibitions and published books that today form part of the country's visual memory. His lens captured prominent figures from Colombian culture and public life while also focusing on the people, streets, architecture and everyday scenes that told another story of the country.
HERNÁN DÍAZ Y CARTAGENA
Cartagena held a special place in Hernán Díaz’s work.
In the late 1950s, he travelled to the city accompanied by the artist Enrique Grau and began photographing its inhabitants and everyday life, capturing a Cartagena that existed before becoming one of Colombia’s leading tourist destinations.
Over the following years, Díaz continued documenting its streets, characters, walls, churches, balconies and urban transformations. His images reveal a city that feels familiar and, at the same time, profoundly different from contemporary Cartagena.
This connection with Cartagena was also reflected in some of the most important publications of his career, including Cartagena morena (1972) and Cartagena de siempre (1992).
One city. Two moments. The same Cartagena.
DELIRIO'S COLLECTION
At Delirio, this story is part of the hotel experience.
Our collection brings together Hernán Díaz’s photographs related to Cartagena and offers a journey through the images of a city from another era: its architecture, streets, characters and scenes of everyday life.
The photographs can be found in the rooms and throughout different areas of the hotel. They were not chosen as generic decoration. They are part of the way we tell Cartagena’s story.
While outside our guests walk through today’s Walled City, inside they discover Hernán Díaz’s vision of 20th-century Cartagena.
The Cartagena of yesterday and the city waiting for you outside.