Bogotá Then and Now in Photos

A little girl being loaded down with bricks in a brickworks in Tunjuelito in the 1960s. Jorge Silva and Marta Rodriguez made a documentary about the child brick laborers called 'Chircales.' See more jarring pictures here.

The Archivo de Bogotá, located in the Belén neighborhood south of La Candelaria (exercise caution if you go there. There are rough blocks near the Archivo) has an exhibit of historical photos of Bogotá by four local photographers. 

Some of the scenes are harsh, such as these of child brickyard laborers. Others provide a chance to see how much the city has changed. 

A young boy carries a load of bricks up a ramp. 

The photo exhibition in the Archivo de Bogotá.

An undated photo by Hernán Díaz of the bullfighting stadium. This photo would be impossible today, because Las Torres del Parque have been built in this space. 

La Casa del Florero - The House of the Flowerpot - in the 1960s. 

The House of the Flowerpot today. More trees and buildings. 

The Archivo de Bogotá's building, in the Belén neighborhood south of La Candelaria. 

Pasaje Hernandez, in central Bogotá. The photo label says it was taken in the 1970s, but the advertisement of computerized graphics services makes me think it's much more recent. 

Pasaje Hernandez today. It hasn't changed a whole lot. 

Wedding dresses displayed in windows on Carrera 10. 

A corner building on Carrera 10 today. The wedding dresses are still there. 

The Murillo Toro building on Seventh Ave. in 1945. The huge church beside it is now gone. 

The Murillo Toro Building today, covered with graffiti and paint bombs. The building contained the main post office, but now appears half-empty. 

Taking a photo with a box camera. 

A car blocks a tranvia's tracks along Carrera 13 in 1944. Photo by Sady Gonzalez. 

Street kids, called gamines. 

One of Bogotá's old horsetracks, or hipodromo. Bogotá had several horsetracks. The last was shut in the 1980's, altho there are proposals to build a new one, perhaps beside Simon Bolívar Park. Photo by Sady Gonzalez.

Las Cruces fruit market in the 1980s, by Vicki Ospina. Things haven't changed much in Bogotá's traditional markets. 

A view of Seventh Ave. 

The view from the Archivo de Bogotá's entrance. 

Squeezing a xylophone on a Bogotá street. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours