The site chosen for the foundation of Bogotá by the Conquistador Jiménez de Quesada in 1538 was a crossroads of indigenous trails that became the linear axes of the city´ s development and a link with the surrounding region. The initial urban structure followed a town plan of straight streets and square blocks that occupied the whole of the available area between the natural boundaries formed by the river San Francisco, to the north, the river San Agustín, to the south, and the mountain ridges to the east.

From its beginning, one of the fundamental architectural elements in the organization of the city were its churches and cloisters, by virtue of their capacity to congregate groups of inhabitants around them. For the most part, these buildings were grouped along two axes. The first was made up of the Calle Real, the present Carrera 7 -around the Plaza de las Yerbas, now Santander park -and the main plaza, now the Plaza de Bolívar. In a south- north sense, this axis was defined by the churches of las Cruces, Santa Bárbara, San Agustín, el Sagrario, la Catedral, Santo Domingo ( Later demolished), San Francisco, la Veracruz and la Orden Tercera: it framed the growth of the city in the 16th century. The second axis, running east-west, was defined by the churches of Egipto, la Candelaria, la Enseńanza ( Later demolished) , la Concepción and San Juan de Dios.