Chorro de Quevedo Square

You have reached the corner where, according to a deeply rooted tradition, it all began. This little square, surrounded by colonial houses and early 20th-century buildings, is now a meeting point for students, musicians, storytellers and travellers.

1Was Bogotá born here?

The story goes that the spot was a lookout from which the Muisca zipa surveyed the savannah, and that Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada camped here with his men before founding the city. The traditional date of the founding is 6 August 1538. Many Bogotanos place that moment in this square, while other historians move it to today's Plaza de Bolívar. The prudent view is that the memory of the city's origins lives on here, without being able to pin down the exact spot.

2Father Quevedo's spout

The name, by contrast, has a documented explanation. In 1832, an Augustinian cleric named Quevedo acquired the site and installed a public fountain. It worked until 1896, when a wall collapsed and destroyed it. In 1969 the square was rebuilt from old images, with a new basin, and the hermitage of San Miguel del Príncipe was raised, inspired by the old Humilladero chapel, the city's first church.

The fountain and chapel you see are recreations from 1969: a tribute to what was here, not the originals.

In the afternoons come the storytelling, the music and the chicha, the fermented maize drink of Indigenous heritage served in the bars of the Callejón del Embudo.

3What to look for

• The central basin, a reminder of the old spout.
• The hermitage of San Miguel del Príncipe, small and white.
• The Callejón del Embudo, which narrows like a funnel and is covered in street art.