The Military Secret of the Bóvedas de San Felipe: Hidden Tunnels Beneath the Walled City

Origins: what really lies beneath the name

It is worth starting with a clarification that many guides omit: in Cartagena there is no complex called "Bóvedas de San Felipe". What does stand —and is visible to anyone walking along the edge of the wall between the bastions of Santa Catalina and Santa Clara— is the Cuartel de Las Bóvedas, also known as Bóvedas de Santa Clara. That is the building the legends, improvised guides and videos promising "secret catacombs" talk about.

The confusion makes sense. The castle that dominates the landscape —the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas— is just a few minutes' walk uphill, and people end up mixing the two names. But they are two distinct structures, built for different purposes and separated by more than a kilometer of actual distance.

The Bóvedas de Santa Clara were born as part of the closing of the defensive ring of the Old City. Its builder was the Castilian military engineer Antonio de Arévalo, a central figure in the defensive engineering of the Spanish Caribbean, and the work was completed in 1798, just nine years before the movements that would lead to independence began. The vaults were finished right when the empire for which they were built was about to crumble on these coasts.

What were they for? To house troops. They were barracks, ammunition and supply warehouses, and military shelter spaces attached to the wall. The word "vault" here has nothing mystical about it: it describes the construction technique of masonry arches and vaulted ceilings that support the complex. There are 47 arches in a row, a long, cool corridor that today houses craft shops and that at one time smelled of gunpowder, leather and soldiers' sweat.

If you come expecting to enter a dark tunnel with torches, better to know in advance: there is no such thing here. The real history of Cartagena is more interesting than the myth, even without bats.

Timeline: from barracks to market, from market to memory

The life of the Bóvedas de Santa Clara summarizes, in a single block, the social history of Cartagena. It is worth pausing at each stage.

1798: the closing of the defensive ring

Antonio de Arévalo delivers the completed work. Cartagena was already one of the most expensive and best-defended strongholds of the Spanish empire in America, and the vaults completed the stretch of wall that was missing between Santa Catalina and Santa Clara. The objective was purely military: to house troops and store supplies at a strategic point facing the open sea.

19th century: prison, barracks and witness to Independence

With independence and the civil wars of the 19th century, the military use of the building became intermittent. The vaults served as barracks, depot and, at different times, as a prison. This is where oral memory takes off: any building with thick walls that has housed prisoners ends up, sooner or later, with a legend of escape tunnels. There is no public documentary evidence confirming escape tunnels beneath the vaults, and it must be said plainly: the idea of a network of secret passages connecting the vaults with the Castillo de San Felipe is urban legend, not a verified fact.

20th century: the public market

For much of the 20th century, the vaults ceased to be a barracks and became the site of the city's public market. The arches that once held rifles and sacks of flour filled with plantains, fish, fabrics and voices. Imagine the vaulted corridor turned into a bustle of street cries, baskets and hands haggling under the cool shade of the masonry. It was a popular, noisy and deeply Cartagena space, until the market moved and the building entered a process of heritage recovery.

Late 20th century and today: crafts and heritage

Restored and enhanced, the vaults today function as a commercial corridor for crafts and as one of the must-see walks along the wall. The building is a National Monument and forms part of the complex declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. The corridor remains one of the most photographed spots in the historic center, especially at sunset, when the light comes in sideways through the arches.

Key figures and events

Antonio de Arévalo

The Castilian military engineer is the central figure of this story. His work in Cartagena —including the Bóvedas de Santa Clara and much of the defensive system— defined the silhouette of the city that tourism visits today. If you want to understand the walled Cartagena, Arévalo is the name to look for in any book of local urban history.

The Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas

It is the other half of the legend. The castle, at the top of the San Lázaro hill, is the largest fortification built by Spain in America and the spot that most visitors confuse with the vaults. Its system of internal galleries —real, documented and visitable passages— feeds the fantasy of tunnels that "reach all the way to the center". What exists is an internal defense network within the castle itself, not an underground corridor linking the hill with the wall. Any guide offering to "enter through a secret tunnel to the center" is selling smoke.

The castle is explored on foot, with ramps and steep passages, and it is advisable to bring water and comfortable shoes. Entrance prices and hours change frequently, so verify them before going.

The soldiers, the prisoners and the merchants

The history of the vaults was not written only by engineers. It was written by the soldiers who slept in the arches, the prisoners who passed through there in the 19th century and the merchant families who turned the place into a market in the 20th century. That popular layer is what gives texture to the building and what almost never appears in tourist brochures.

Current state: what you can see today and what you cannot

The Bóvedas de Santa Clara

Today they are a crafts corridor and a walk along the wall. They are explored on foot, without the need for a guide, and access to the commercial corridor is free. It is a good place to buy local crafts and to understand the real scale of Cartagena's military architecture. Be wary of the "secret tunnel tours" offered on the street: there is no public access to underground passages beneath the vaults. If someone promises you that, they are making it up.

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas

The castle does have real, visitable internal galleries, and it is the mandatory stop for anyone who wants to understand the city's defensive engineering. It is recommended to go early to avoid the heat and the lines. Prices and hours are updated frequently; check the verified listing before your visit.

The Archivo Histórico de Cartagena

If your interest is serious research —plans, construction documents, military records—, the Archivo Histórico is the starting point. For specialized inquiries, it is recommended to contact in advance and verify access requirements directly with the institution. Do not publish or share contact details you have not confirmed in official sources.

Getsemaní

A few minutes from the vaults, the Getsemaní neighborhood is the perfect complement for an afternoon of history and street life. Urban art, nightlife and an architecture that mixes the colonial with the republican. It is the liveliest neighborhood in Cartagena and the place where popular memory feels closer than in any museum.

The tunnel myth: what the evidence says and what the street says

The legend of the tunnels connecting the vaults with the castle has everything a good urban myth needs: a building with thick walls, a castle on a hill, a history of wars and a city that lives off tourism. But the available documentary evidence does not support the existence of a network of public passages beneath the Walled City. What does exist are internal galleries within the Castillo de San Felipe itself, designed for the defense of the fort, not to connect points of the city.

The confusion is fed by three things: the similarity between the names, the habit of guides to mix stories and the universal fascination with the underground. If you are interested in real urban archaeology, there are verifiable sites in Cartagena —the Cueva de los Pijaos in Pie de la Popa, for example, associated with the indigenous memory of the hill— that offer a local history experience without the need to invent passages.

Practical routes for the curious traveler

A reasonable route for a day of urban history: start early at the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, continue to the Bóvedas de Santa Clara walking along the wall, go down to Getsemaní for lunch and end the afternoon at the Convento de la Popa, with its 360° views over the city. If you still have energy, the Mercado de Bazurto is the other face of Cartagena: the popular city, champeta and real food.

To get around safely, it is advisable to check the maps by neighborhood and the live holiday schedules before heading out, and to book in advance when possible. With the rainy season and local holidays, planning ahead always helps.

Timeline or historical milestones

The confusion about the "Bóvedas de San Felipe" is not recent: it drags more than a century of mixing between the walled enclosure, the defenses of the hill and the tunnels that connected guard posts. To understand what can be visited today and what is myth, it is worth reviewing the milestones that left a physical mark on the terrain.

• 1533 – Foundation and first defensive layout. Pedro de Heredia establishes the city over the indigenous village of Calamarí. The first defenses are wooden and earth palisades, nothing like the ashlar vaults photographed today.
• 1586 – The siege of Francis Drake. The English corsair takes the city and sets it on fire. The lesson was clear: Cartagena needed stone defenses. That fire marks the beginning of large-scale military engineering.
• 1614 – The Italian school of fortification arrives. With the arrival of engineers such as Juan Bautista Antonelli and his disciples, the system of walls, bastions and castles that we know today is defined. Barrel vaults —vaulted ashlar spaces— become the construction pattern for warehouses, powder magazines and barracks.
• 1741 – The siege of Vernon and the battle of Boca