Church of San FranciscoIglesia de San Francisco

Church of San Francisco, founded in 1557 as the heart of a Franciscan complex, is Bogota’s oldest surviving church and a rare witness to the city’s early colonial life. Rebuilt after the 1785 earthquake, its austere stone façade gives way to an interior of coffered Mudéjar woodwork and gilded cedar altarpieces, crowned by the monumental main retablo (1593–1611). Amid the modern center’s constant movement, it remains a working parish and a touchstone of Colombian faith and craftsmanship.