Chorro de Quevedo

What it is

Chorro de Quevedo is a compact plazoleta in upper La Candelaria, centred on a fountain and the white Ermita de San Miguel del Príncipe. It is not a grand colonial plaza: its value lies in the tight scale, the surrounding lanes and the layers of history attached to the site.

Tradition places Bogotá’s 1538 origin here, but the precise location and meaning of the city’s foundation are debated. What is clearer is that the area was associated with the early Spanish military encampment of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, on ground connected with the earlier Muisca settlement of Thibsaquillo.

Read the square

Start at the fountain, then look south to the chapel. The present Ermita de San Miguel del Príncipe was built in 1969 as a recreation inspired by the former Capilla del Humilladero; it is not a surviving sixteenth-century church.

The name Chorro de Quevedo comes from a public fountain installed here in 1832 by the Augustinian priest Francisco Quevedo. The original was destroyed in 1896. The square was rebuilt in 1969, when the current fountain was installed.

The urban form explains the location’s importance. Southwest of the square, streets follow the straight Spanish grid. Northeast, the former course of the San Bruno stream and the hillside produce narrower, less regular lanes.

Walk the immediate streets

Allow one to two hours for the square and its approaches. Take Calle del Embudo, the narrow cobbled lane beside the plaza, rather than treating the fountain as a quick photo stop. Its walls carry changing murals and graffiti, while cafés and chicherías occupy the small premises around it.

Chicha, a fermented maize drink with Indigenous roots, is sold in the area. The square also remains a setting for informal music, storytelling and other street performance; its character changes with the time of day.

Getting there and access

The square is at Calle 12B #2-98, by Carrera 2, in La Candelaria. From the TransMilenio Museo del Oro station, walk east toward the hills and Carrera 2. The final approach climbs through the historic centre.

Access: free; the public square is listed as open 24 hours. It is an outdoor stop, so bring rain protection in Bogotá’s changeable weather. The plaza was upgraded with ramps and more level paving, though the surrounding cobbled lanes remain uneven.

Fit it into La Candelaria

Use Chorro de Quevedo as a short, walkable stop between the historic centre’s museums and plazas. The point is the contrast: a small reconstructed square, an unresolved foundation narrative, and streets still used for study, social life and street art.