Usaquen

Usaquen was a separate town founded in 1539 and stayed one until 1954, when Bogota annexed it along with several other surrounding municipalities as the city expanded north - the plaza, the church of Santa Barbara and the low colonial streets around them survived the absorption and now sit inside an otherwise modern and affluent district. The Sunday flea market fills the streets round the plaza with several hundred stalls selling crafts, jewellery, antiques, food and a good deal of ordinary market goods, and it is one of the busier weekend events in the city. The restored houses hold restaurants and bars, which is what the district now runs on. Hacienda Santa Barbara, a shopping centre built into a colonial hacienda, is adjacent.

History

The name comes from the cacique Usaque, who ruled this part of the southern Muisca lands, and the Spanish under Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada reached the Bogotá savanna in 1537. A Spanish decree abandoned Usaquén in 1777, it slowly filled again with people from Bogotá, and it was refounded as a municipality in 1846; it was long a place where Bogotá's elite kept country houses. Bogotá annexed it in 1954, and under the constitution of 1991 it became the first of the city's twenty localities (Wikipedia, Usaquén).

Highlights

• A colonial plaza and church - from a town annexed in 1954.
• A Sunday flea market - several hundred stalls round the square.
• Restored houses as restaurants - what the district runs on now.
• A hacienda converted to a shopping centre - next door.

When to go

Sunday for the market; year round otherwise. Half a day.

Before you go

The market is Sunday only - other days the district is restaurants. It is expensive by Bogota standards. Sunday crowds are heavy. The colonial core is small, surrounded by modern development.

Nearby

Northern Bogota's business districts are south; the eastern hills rise behind.

Key facts