Gold Museum, Bogotá

Gold Museum
Museo del Oro

View of the Gold Museum
Location within Colombia
Established 22 December 1939
Location Carrera 6 # 15-82
(Parque Santander)
Bogotá,  Colombia
Coordinates 4°36′06″N 74°04′19″W / 4.60167°N 74.07194°W / 4.60167; -74.07194Coordinates: 4°36′06″N 74°04′19″W / 4.60167°N 74.07194°W / 4.60167; -74.07194
Director Clara Isabel Botero
Public transit access Museo del Oro
Website Official website
The Muisca raft is the main piece in the Offering Boat Room
Calima culture heart-shaped pectoral as displayed in the temporary exhibition of Gold Museum's exhibits at the Royal Castle in Warsaw
Logo of the museum with the seal of the Banco de la República, next to the museum

The Gold Museum (Spanish: El Museo del Oro) is a famous museum located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the most visited touristic highlights of Colombia.[1] The museum receives around 500,000 tourists per year.[2]

Overview

The museum displays a selection of pre-Columbian gold and other metal alloys, such as tumbaga, work — the biggest collection in the world — in its exhibition rooms on the second and third floors. Together with pottery, stone, shell, wood and textile archaeological objects, these items, made of what to indigenous cultures was a sacred metal, testify to the life and thought of different societies which inhabited what is now known as Colombia before the conquest of the Spanish.

History

In 1934, the Bank of the Republic began helping to protect the archaeological patrimony of Colombia. The object known as Poporo Quimbaya was the first one in a collection. It has been on exhibition for 70 years.

The museum houses the famous Muisca golden raft found in Pasca in 1929, that represents the ceremony of the new zipa (ruler) of Bacatá, basis for the El Dorado myth. The heir to the chieftaincy assumed power with a great offering to the gods. In this representation he is seen standing at the centre of a raft, surrounded by the principal chieftains, all of them adorned with gold and feathers.

After a decade of works, the museum was expanded and renovated in October 2008. With the renovation, the museum organized the permanent exhibition in five rooms with archaeological objects and an interactive room. It also added an auditorium, some temporary exhibitions rooms, a cafe, a restaurant and a souvenir store.

Description

The museum has a collection of 55,000 pieces. 6,000 pieces are on display in their expanded building. There are bilingual descriptions of almost all exhibits. On the first floor is the museum's main entrance, the shop and a restaurant, The Gold Museum restaurant and café.

On the second floor the exposition begins, the main room is called "People and Gold in pre-Hispanic Colombia". In glass cases it displays the goldsmith work of the different cultures which inhabited Colombia before the Spanish people arrived; the room is divided into different halls for every culture; Calima, Quimbaya, Muisca, Zenú, Tierradentro, San Agustín, Tolima, Tairona and Urabá, and a special room called "After Columbus" (Después de Colón).

The exposition continues on the third floor, with "The Flying Chamanic" and "The Offering". The first shows the process of a shaman ceremony with its different gold pieces, the second is divided into three parts; the "Offering Room", the "Offering Boat", and the "Lake".

At the end of the exposition, there is a "Profunditation Room" with artistic videos about the most important gold pieces of the museum.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The 22 Places To Go in Bogotá: Museum of Gold". Bogotá Travel Guide]. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  2. ↑ (Spanish) Los 75 del Museo del Oro - Semana
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