The Virgilio Barco library, designed by Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona and completed in 2001, is one of the finest modern buildings in South America. The circular brick structure, surrounded by a moat and gardens at the western edge of Parque Simón Bolívar, has become a civic landmark — a genuinely successful piece of public architecture that people actually use.
Even if you're not here to read, the building is worth visiting for its spatial sequence: the approach through the gardens, the water features, the reading rooms opening onto views of the park and the Andes. Salmona's brick construction echoes both the Spanish colonial tradition and pre-Columbian earthwork, and the result is a building that feels entirely of this place. Free entry.