History of Facatativa

Different records of historic human activity have been found in Facatativa. Muisca pottery and indigenous paintings and sculpture are samples of their religious beliefs and social structure. The Archaeological park Tunjo Stones for example features prehistoric paintings, many of them now vandalized.

Facatativá was discovered by the Spanish conquistadors through Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada while exploring routes to El Dorado. Jimenez de Quesada had his first contact with what is today's Facatativá while trying to capture indigenous Muisca leader Cacique Tisquesusa who intended to escape the Spaniard invasion with six hundred men. Tisquesusa was captured and killed by Spanish soldiers on July 15, 1537.

Facatativá was officially founded in 1600 by Spaniard administrator Diego Gomez de Mena. Traditionally in the Spanish style of city development during the colonization of Spanish America the city's most important building was its church which was ordered to be built by Gomez de Mena in a contract dated 1601.

Cathedral of Facatativá

Facatativa's most important building is the Cathedral located on the Simon Bolivar Plaza in downtown Facatativá.

Although originally an ordinary Catholic church a series of earthquakes through history have damaged the buildings, forcing every new construction into a better one. The first one was founded in 1601 and lasted until July 12, 1785 when it was damaged by an earthquake. Priest Juan de la Mata Salazar y Caicedo noticed the buildings failure and a new church was built on May 1787. This new