The Sun Temple of Sogamoso was a temple constructed by the

Muisca The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...

as a place of worship for their Sun god

Sué Sué, Xué, Sua, Zuhe or Suhé was the deity, god of the Sun in the Muisca religion and mythology, religion of the Muisca. He was married to Moon goddess Chía (goddess), Chía.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.4, p.33 The Muisca people, Muisca and their Mu ...

. The temple was built in

Sogamoso Sogamoso () is a city in the department of Boyacá of Colombia. It is the capital of the Sugamuxi Province, named after the original Sugamuxi. Sogamoso is nicknamed "City of the Sun", based on the original Muisca tradition of pilgrimage and ador ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, then part of the

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', '' iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The ...

and called Sugamuxi. It was the most important temple in the

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

of the Muisca. The temple was destroyed by fire brought by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

es led by

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (;1496 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory named ...

who was eager to find the legendary ''

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

''. A reconstruction has been built in the Archeology Museum of Sogamoso.

Structure and worship

The Temple of the Sun was built on the right banks of the small river Monquirá. The temple was a large round structure made of poles and clay with a roof made of reed. The temple did not have any windows. The columns surrounding the temple were built in three concentric rings made of wood harvested in Casanare. The temple represented the cosmos and was built to honour Sun god Sué. The temple also was a burial ground for the most important ''

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

s'' and priests (

Chibcha The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...

: ''ogques'').Temple of the Sun - Sogamoso
- Pueblos Originarios - accessed 04-05-2016 The Muisca had a decent knowledge of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

and constructed various sites across their territories. ''

El Infiernito ''El Infiernito'' (Spanish for "The Little Hell"), is a pre-Columbian archaeoastronomical site located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the outskirts of Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia. It is composed of several earthworks surrounding a s ...

'', just outside

Villa de Leyva Villa de Leyva, also called Villa de Leiva, is a touristic colonial town and municipality, in the Ricaurte Province, part of the Boyacá Department of Colombia. The town is a Colombian National Heritage Town and is on the tentative list for UNES ...

has survived. The Sun Temple was constructed according to the positions of the Sun. At the temple rituals were organised by the ''caciques'' and ''

zaque When the Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Muyquytá. The ''hoa'' was the ruler of the n ...

s'' of the Muisca Confederation. The

mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

Idacansás Idacansás, Idacansas, Idacanzas or Iduakanzas was a mythical '' cacique'' who was said to have been the first priest of the sacred city of Sugamuxi, present-day Sogamoso, Colombia, then part of the territories of the Muisca. He is characterize ...

held gatherings where children (''moxas'') were sacrificed. He made the city of Sugamuxi a sacred place. Mythical

Thomagata Thomagata or Fomagata was a mythical '' cacique'' who was said to have been ''zaque'' of Hunza, present-day Tunja, Colombia, then part of the Muisca Confederation. He is remembered as one of the most religious in the history of the ''zaques'', af ...

was believed to travel each night between Tunja and the temple, a march he repeated ten times per night.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.14, p.85

Destruction

Spanish conquistador Jiménez de Quesada heard of the Sun Temple and entered Sogamoso in early September 1537. He arrived in the afternoon and decided to wait until the next morning to take the ''cacique'' of Sugamuxi out of the temple. Curious to see the treasures in the temple, two of his soldiers, Miguel Sánchez and Juan Rodríguez Parra went to the sacred place on the night of September 4th, lighting their way with torches. When they entered the temple they found rich ornaments and

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

of ancient nobles. While they were collecting parts of the treasures of the temple they accidentally set fire to it with their torches destroying the temple.

Reconstruction

In 1942 archeologist

Eliécer Silva Celis Eliécer Silva Celis ( Floresta, Colombia, 20 January 1914 – Sogamoso, 4 July 2007) was a Colombian anthropologist, archaeologist, professor and writer.

uncovered a Muisca cemetery in Sogamoso. The cemetery contained tombs of indigenous Muisca with mummies still preserved. Based on his archeological findings he was able to locate the original site of the temple and decided to reconstruct it. The replica of the temple is high. The symbols in the dome tell the story of the creation of the Earth by

Chiminigagua Chiminigagua, Chiminichagua or Chimichagua was the supreme being, omnipotent god and creator of the world in the religion of the Muisca.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.1, p.15 The Muisca and their confederation were one of the four advanced civilization ...

, the Supreme Being of the Muisca. The small openings on the sides serve as a

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...

; every year on December 22 the sunlight falls right on the central pillar. Around the temple the cemetery with

, that were originally displayed inside the temple, is reconstructed. Today the temple is part of the Archeology Museum of Sogamoso, governed by the

Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia The Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia (), also known as "La UPTC", is a national public university in Colombia with main campus in Tunja and presence in the country's seven departments. The university has a headquarters, thre ...

based in

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá department an ...

Other Sun temples in the world

Pyramid of the Sun The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan, and one of the largest in Mesoamerica. It is believed to have been constructed about 200 AD. Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela ...

- Teotihuacan religion *

Temple of the Cross Complex The Temple of the Cross Complex is a complex of temples at the Maya site of Palenque in the state of Chiapas in Mexico. It is located in the south-east corner of the site and consists of three main structures: the Temple of the Cross, Temple ...

- Maya religion *

Qurikancha Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (''"The Golden Temple,"'' from Quechua language, Quechua ''quri'' gold; ''kancha'' enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capita ...

- Inca religion *

Temple of the Sun A sun temple (or solar temple) is a building used for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, dedicated to the sun or a solar deity. Such temples were built by a number different cultures and are distributed around th ...

- China *

Konark Sun Temple Konark Sun Temple is a (year 1250) Sun temple at Konark about northeast from Puri city on the coastline in Puri district, Odisha, India.Muisca mummification The Muisca inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Colombian Andes before the arrival of the Spanish and were an advanced civilisation. They mummified the higher social class members of their society, mainly the ''zipas'', ''zaques'', '' cac ...

- god of the Sun of the Muisca *

Muisca religion Muisca religion describes the religion of the Muisca people, Muisca who inhabited the central highlands of the Colombian Andes before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca. The Muisca formed a Muisca Confederation, confederation of holy Muisca ruler ...

, Moon Temple,

Cojines del Zaque The ''Cojines del Zaque'' (English: "Cushions of the ''Zaque''") is an archeological site of the Muisca located in the city of Tunja, Boyacá, which in the time of the Muisca Confederation was called Hunza. The ''cojines'' are two round stones us ...

, Piedras del Tunjo

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

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Temple of the Sun - Sogamoso
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Video about the Sun Temple in Sogamoso

Video of the reconstructed temple
{{Muisca navbox, Mythology and religion, state=expanded Muisca mythology and religion

Buildings and structures in Sogamoso Tourist attractions in Boyacá Department Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia Temples in Colombia