In 2022, after his time in the Czech Republic, Mamo Awisen settled with his family in Boyacá. Why here specifically? To continue the teachings of his ancestors who inhabited this sacred place.

Boyacá - The Muisca Temple of the Sun

Sogamoso or Boyacá

The name "Sogamoso" comes from the Chibcha word "suamox," meaning "abode of the sun." The site was chosen by Bochica as the seat of the high priests, and there stood "The Temple of the Sun," which, due to its splendor and the riches it contained, was the most important religious center of the Muisca. Built on the right bank of the Monquirá stream, according to the chronicles, it was an enormous circular hut with a thatched roof. Its floor was made of finely woven matting, and it had no windows. Its columns, in three concentric rows, were gigantic guayacan trees brought from the plains of Casanare; this tree held great cosmological significance because several guayacan trees supported the world before Bochica entrusted this task to Chibchacum. 

Furthermore, the Temple represented the cosmos, the guayacan trees its foundations, and the universe its roof. Professor Silva Celis, who built a replica, believed there were four access paths to the Temple, corresponding to the cardinal directions and marking the sun's path; some of these paths were used exclusively for entry and others for exit. It was also a necropolis, where the remains of its chieftains or high priests rested. 

The destruction 

When Jiménez de Quesada learned of the Temple of the Sun, he eagerly arrived in the first days of September 1537. After subduing Chief Sugamoxi and securing the town, he decided to wait for daybreak to plunder it. But under cover of night, soldiers Miguel Sánchez and Juan Rodríguez Parra, anxious to discover its riches, entered by torchlight. They found an elderly, silent priest who would later be consumed by the flames. Adorned with fine ornaments, the mummified bodies of illustrious ancestors were displayed on platforms of fine resinous wood. 

While collecting part of the treasure, they accidentally set the place on fire. The flames grew so strong that they were unable to extinguish them and fled with what they had taken. This occurred on September 4, 1537. The fire lasted a long time. Juan de Castellanos recounts: "The fire in this house lasted for five years, and winter was no obstacle to consuming it; during this time, smoke never ceased in the courtyard and the place where it stood: such was the thickness of the roof, the weight and sturdiness of the timbers upon which the structure was built." 

The reconstruction 

In 1942, Silva Celis discovered a Muisca cemetery near the Mochacá neighborhood of Sogamoso, with indigenous tombs that preserved evidence of funerary rituals. He found the mummies of Muisca people of noble lineage and was able to pinpoint the site where the Temple of the Sun had stood, subsequently undertaking its reconstruction. The replica is 18 meters tall. The symbols on the woven reed dome narrate the formation of the lands that comprised the chiefdoms of the Zipa and the Zaque. Its small openings serve as a calendar: every December 22nd, the sun's rays are perfectly projected onto the robust central pillar inside the circular temple. Surrounding the temple is a cemetery containing mummified bodies. Today, it is part of the Sogamoso Archaeological Museum, a branch of the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia.