Museo del Oro

The Museo del Oro, run by the Banco de la República at Carrera 6 with Calle 15 beside Parque Santander in central Bogotá, Colombia, holds one of the largest collections of pre-Hispanic gold work in the world. The museum was founded in 1939 after the bank bought the Quimbaya Poporo, a gold vessel now among its best-known pieces, and it moved into a purpose-built modernist building in 1968 designed by the architect Germán Samper. A major renovation completed in 2008 reorganised the galleries. The collection totals tens of thousands of objects, including more than 34,000 pieces of gold and tumbaga, an alloy of gold and copper, alongside ceramics, stone, shell and textile items from the Muisca, Quimbaya, Calima, Tairona, Sinú, Tolima and other cultures. The exhibition is thematic rather than strictly chronological. Halls address the metallurgical techniques of the goldsmiths, such as lost-wax casting and gilding by depletion, and the cosmology and symbolism that gave gold a religious rather than monetary meaning. Visitors move through regional rooms and finish in a darkened chamber where hundreds of gold objects are lit in a glowing display known as the offering room. The star piece is the Muisca raft from Pasca, found in 1969, whose small gold figures depict the ceremony at Lake Guatavita that gave rise to the legend of El Dorado. The building's concrete and glass exterior is plain, and the interior is designed for controlled lighting and security. The museum has audio guides, an auditorium, a shop and temporary exhibitions, and staff run guided tours in Spanish and other languages at set times. Labels are bilingual in Spanish and English, which makes it one of the most accessible museums in the capital. A visit typically takes two to three hours, and the museum is a central stop in the historic district, a short walk from the Iglesia de San Francisco.