JERICO, Colombia -- With run-down schools and few museums, rural Colombia can be a cultural wasteland. Beer and eight ball is about as highbrow as it gets.

So what's Andy Warhol doing out here?

Thirteen of the late artist's silk-screen prints are on display in Jerico, a community of 12,000 people in the Andes Mountains ,three hours by car from Medellin.

It's a long way from The Factory.

In Jerico, iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and Mao Tse-tung hang on the walls of the town's archaeological museum next to a display of Christmas creches. The security guard doubles as the tour guide. Sunburned farmers in sombreros squint at Mao, the Chinese strongman depicted by Warhol in fluorescent orange and pink.

"If all you offer people is booze, billiards and loud music, that's what the people will take to," said Carlos Giraldo, the mayor of Jerico. "But if you promote art, then art will flourish."

Mr. Giraldo came up with the idea while studying in Germany in the 1990s. He recalled how treasures of Russia's Romanov Dynasty were loaned to a museum in a small German town. Art lovers from all over Europe made the pilgrimage.

He wanted to pull off a similar coup to bring cultural tourists to his town. The Warhol works already were in Bogota as part of a traveling exhibition. So, Mr. Giraldo and other civic leaders persuaded the curator to farm out 13 Mao and Marilyn Monroe prints for a few months.

Just as he planned, the exhibition has drawn big crowds. During a recent afternoon, a delegation of government officials toured the building followed by a group of high school students.

In a way, Andy in the Andes makes perfect sense.

Warhol was a founding father of pop art, the movement that defied cultural elitists by pushing the notion that mass-produced consumer goods -- like comic strips, Campbell's Soup cans or Coca-Cola bottles -- were legitimate subjects for fine art.

His focus on mundane items and playful portraits also was a way to make the powerful seem more accessible. Or, in the words of Warhol: "The president drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca-Cola, too."

That concept resonates with people living in the Colombian backcountry.

"It's amazing to see Mao in such aggressive colors," said Matilda Giraldo, a Jerico teacher who brought 20 students. "You begin to understand what Warhol was doing."

Jerico's artistic roots pre-date Warhol by more than a century.

The town sprung up in the 1850s and its founding fathers were picky. They didn't allow miners, cowboys and roughnecks to take up residence, accepting only those considered to be decent and God-fearing.

Missionaries built convents and schools. The town is now home to four museums, and three more are in the planning stages. Other attractions include a library, cultural center, botanical garden and cable car for tourists. The town government offers painting, drawing, music and reading classes to people living in the countryside.

At first, Mr. Giraldo feared no one would believe the Warhol originals were on display in Jerico and that no one would show up. He was wrong.

"The exhibit produced curiosity and confusion," Giraldo said. "Then people began looking up Andy Warhol in the encyclopedia and telling their friends."

Then came the local, national and international media and the stories led to more visitors and more attention. Warhol, it seems, has given Jerico its 15 minutes.

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