Muisca architecture

The Muisca, inhabiting the central highlands of the Colombian Andes (Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the southwestern part of that the Bogotá savanna), were one of the four great civilizations of the Americas.

[1] Unlike the three civilizations in present-day Mexico and Peru (the Aztec, Maya, and the Incas), they did not construct grand architecture of solid materials.

In recent years larger areas showing evidence of the Early Muisca architecture have been uncovered, the biggest of them in Soacha, Cundinamarca.

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau in the Colombian Andes, has been inhabited for at least 12,400 years, with the earliest evidence in El Abra, Tibitó and Tequendama.

When the first hunter-gatherers arrived from the north (the Caribbean coast and earlier from Central America), they encountered still the Pleistocene megafauna on the highlands; Cuvieronius, Stegomastodon, Haplomastodon and Equus andium in particular.

It was in this era that the agricultural advancement, that started in the latest preceramic times, caused a change towards population of the plains, away from the caves and rock shelters.

The first contact with the Muisca happened in 1537 by the troops of conquistador and explorer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his brother Hernán.

The houses of the Muisca, called bohíos or malokas, were circular structures made of poles of wood and walls of clay, with a conical reed roof.

The Late Muisca Period, commonly defined as 1200–1537, is characterised by denser population and larger communities, especially in Suba and Cota with more dispersed housing in the vicinity.

[14] Archaeologist Silva Celis uncovered in 1943 housing structures in Soacha with four different temporal levels with indications of population in the form of ash deposits from fires and animal bones.

[15] Various scholars agree that the housing of the Muisca was egalitarian; little differentiation between the living spaces of the caciques and the lower-class people has been found, especially in Soacha.

[21] According to De Piedrahita, the moxas were raised in the temples to make them as sacred as possible for when they would be sacrificed, which meant a great honour to the families who donated the young boys.

[22] The first construction of post-conquest architecture took place shortly after De Quesada had conquered the city of Bacatá, later called Santafe and known as the capital Bogotá in modern age.

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense , the high plateau where the Muisca built their architecture
During the earliest stages of inhabitation, the people lived in caves and rock shelters, for example the Piedras del Tunjo in Facatativá
Replica of Muisca bohíos
As in North America, here Timucua , the villages of the Muisca were surrounded by wooden poles; enclosures
Bohíos were built slightly elevated from the surrounding area , like in Tayrona National Park
Temple of the Sun in Sugamuxi, reconstruction by Eliécer Silva Célis
Cojines del Zaque in Hunza; place of pilgrimage for the Muisca
The Spanish colonisers quickly replaced the structures of the Muisca with their own colonial architecture , here in Bogotá