Plaza de Bolívar, Bogotá

Animation of Sué rising at the solstices and equinoxes above the Eastern Hills, as seen from Bolívar Square

The history of Bolívar Square goes back to pre-Columbian times, when the area was inhabited by the Muisca. The indigenous Muisca, one of the four grand civilisations in the Americas,[2] (together with the Inca, Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec civilizations) had an advanced knowledge of the solar and lunar cycles, represented in their complex lunisolar Muisca calendar. At various locations throughout their Muisca Confederation, the people constructed temples honouring their main deities; Sué, the Sun, and his consort Chía, the Moon.

Studies published about the Muisca astronomy in 2011 and 2017 by Julio Bonilla Romero, revealed that the Sun seen from the northeastern corner of Bolívar Square, at the June solstice rises exactly above Monserrate and at the December solstice above Guadalupe Hill.[3] At the equinoxes of March and September, Sué rises from the valley between these two landmarks in the Eastern Hills of the city.[4]

Conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, after defeating the last zipa of the southern Muisca Tisquesusa in 1537, founded the city of Bogotá on 6 August 1538. Two other main expeditions reached the newly founded capital of the New Kingdom of Granada in 1539; led by Nikolaus Federmann from the east and Sebastián de Belalcázar from the south. The Spanish conquistadors established the first cathedral of the city on the northeastern corner of the Plaza Mayor.[5]

From the city's founding, the square was the site of a pillory, "La Picota," where public punishments were conducted for nearly a half-century. It was replaced by a public water source in 1583.[6]

During the early colonial period, the Plaza Mayor was a market square, where circus acts, civil, religious and cultural events, and until 1681 bullfights were held. In the same year, a fountain was built on the square.[1] The first buildings were the primitive cathedral on the eastern side, followed by a three-story building constructed in 1545, two-story buildings on the northern and western edges for the principal merchants of the city in 1570, and between 1578 and 1582 the Real Audiencia building in the southwestern corner was built. In the southeastern corner of the square, the Mayor School of San Bartolomé, a secondary school institution, originally a university, was established by the Jesuits in 1604. The Holy Chapel was built at the end of the 17th century and the Viceroyalty Palace on the southeastern corner started construction in 1719 and was inaugurated in 1724.[5] The Palace was completely burned down in 1776.[1]

The present-day Primary Cathedral on the eastern side dates from the early 19th century; construction was started in 1807 by Domingo de Petres and finished in 1823.[1]

Bolívar Square in 1846

In the Vase House on the northeastern corner, now also known as the Museum of the 20th July, occurred the Call for Independence on 20 July 1810, the first independence attempt from the Spanish rule in Colombia. Camilo Torres Tenorio was executed on the square in 1816. The Bolívar Square was called Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Square) from 1821 onwards, until the placement of the statue honouring Simon Bolívar in 1846.[7] The National Capitol on the southern side, the seat of the Colombian Congress, was initiated in 1846 but due to the political instability of the country it was not finished until 1926.[8] The French-style building located on the western side of the square known as the Liévano Palace, was constructed between 1902 and 1905. As of 1974 it is the seat for the Mayor of Bogotá.[9]

Protests on Bolívar Square, 2008

The Palace of Justice, a large international style building where the Supreme Court is housed, was first built in 1921 but was destroyed by a fire during the Bogotazo after the murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in April 1948. A new palace was built on the north side of the Bolívar Square, but was destroyed again in November 1985 during the "Palace of Justice Siege", by both the guerrilla movement M-19 and the Colombian Army. The ruins of the building were kept untouched until 1989, when the government decided to construct a third (and current) building on the location, of which construction started in 1998.[10]

Bolívar Square was proposed as a national monument on 26 October 1994 and received that status on 19 October 1995.[11]

Bolívar Square has a long history as site for various protests. In July 1947, more than 100,000 people protested during the night.[12] During a protest in 2016, students camped on the square.[13]

• Bonilla Romero, Julio H.; Bustos Velazco, Edier H.; Duvan Reyes, Jaime (2017). "Arqueoastronomía, alineaciones solares de solsticios y equinoccios en Bogotá-Bacatá – Archaeoastronomy, alignment solar from solstices and equinoxes in Bogota-Bacatá". Revista Científica, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. 27: 146–155. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
• Bonilla Romero, Julio H (2011). "Aproximaciones al observatorio solar de Bacatá-Bogotá-Colombia – Approaches to solar observatory Bacatá-Bogotá-Colombia". Azimut, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. 3: 9–15. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
• Escovar, Alberto W. (2002). Bogotá: Historic Center. Ediciones Gamma S.A. p. 69. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
• Ocampo López, Javier (2007). Grandes culturas indígenas de América – Great indigenous cultures of the Americas. Bogotá, Colombia: Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A. pp. 1–238. ISBN 978-958-14-0368-4.