MUSEO DEL ORO

The most prestigious museum in Colombia conserves more than 34,000 pieces of gold, plus another 20,000 in ceramics, stone, bone, shell, wood and textiles. It was created in 1939, in order to avoid the dispersion of pre-Columbian treasures (sales, exports, remelting, etc.). Today it is the largest collection of pre-Hispanic gold objects ever assembled in the world. The Banco de la República bought the pieces directly from private collectors and guaqueros, the grave robbers, an office that was tolerated until the 1930s. The museum presents a permanent exhibition organized in four thematic rooms. The first one is dedicated to metalwork. It describes the ancestral mining and manufacturing techniques. The second presents the uses and context of metalwork in the political and religious organization of pre-Columbian societies, with pieces classified by civilizations: Nariño, Calima, Chibcha, Quimbaya, Sinú, Tayrona, San Agustín, Tierradentro and Tolima, among others. The third room explores the cosmology and symbolism of these objects. Finally, the fourth room, dedicated to the offerings, transports visitors to a mystical world with a sound and light show, where hundreds of gold objects glitter under the traditional sacred songs of the mamos (spiritual guides). We discover how the gold extracted from the Earth returned to the Earth, in a divine marriage with the sun. The Muisca Raft (Balsa Muisca) is one of the most admired pieces in the museum. Beyond its refinement, it confirms the chronicles of the Spanish explorers about the Muisca ceremonies, such as those that took place in the lagoon of Guatavita. The other piece of great importance is the Poporo Quimbaya, the first piece acquired by the Bank of the Republic in 1939, which marked the beginning of the program initiated by the State to protect and conserve pre-Columbian riches.

Finally, the Gold Museum offers an interactive room, El Exploratorio, with a playful presentation of the diversity of Colombian heritage, reflections on archaeology, as well as models representing different aspects of the daily life of the Muiscas, or a vast map showing the diversity of Colombian peoples. An audio-guide in French or a guided tour of about 1 hour (in Spanish or English) is recommended. The Bank of the Republic manages other branches of the Gold Museum in Santa Marta, Cartagena, Armenia, Manizales, Cali, Pasto, Ipiales and Leticia (Museo Etnografico).