Bogotá has long wanted to position itself as an art and culture capital in South America – and the city’s various museums contribute to this image cult and cool. From art galleries to collections that tell the country’s history since many years before Christ, there are so many museums that it is difficult to choose which one to visit.
Although they are spread across this immense metropolis, the most important are concentrated in the historic neighborhood of Candelária, in the city center and its surroundings. And the best: Bogotá’s museums are free on Sundays.
Bogotá Gold Museum
If you only have time to visit one museum in Bogotá, rush to the Gold Museum. The collection features metal pieces crafted by cultures that inhabit the region of Colombia and other parts of America from the pre-Columbian to colonial periods and is considered one of the largest of its kind in the world.
The metal was sacred to the indigenous people, who worked with it to create ceremonial pieces and offerings. Some of these cultures developed such advanced techniques for working gold that they far exceeded the dexterity of the Europeans at the time they landed there. There are a total of 54,000 objects that form the museum’s permanent exhibition. Get ready to spend a few hours inside (and still leave without being able to see everything).
Muisca Ferry, one of the most important pieces of the Bogotá Gold Museum
One of the most important pieces in the Gold Museum is the “Muisca Raft”, a small representation of a ritual of the Muisca people which consisted of painting their leader with gold dust and placing him on a raft in the center of a lake full of objects. and precious stones, which would be offered to the gods. This ritual is believed to have given rise to the legend of El Dorado.
Read too: The True Story Behind the Legend of El Dorado
The museum was founded in 1939 and is managed by Banco de La República.
Address: Santander Park, Carrera 5ª com Calle 16.
Entry and operation: Tickets cost 4,000 Colombian pesos (R$5). The Bogotá Gold Museum is closed on Mondays. More information on the official website.
Botero Museum
Botero Museum. Photo: Shutterstock, powder post
Another museum maintained by the Banco de la República Cultural Network, the Botero Museum brings together works by the famous Colombian, including his famous self-portrait “El Estúdio”. In total, there are 120 works by the artist, who is recognized for his characteristic chubby figures, as well as works by other painters such as Picasso and Miró, which were part of his personal collection and were donated to the museum. The Botero Museum is located in a beautiful house overlooking Cerro Monserrate, close to the Gold Museum and Banco de la República.
Address: Calle 11, no 4-4, La Candelaria
Entry and operation: Free. Closed on Tuesdays.
Collection of the Banco de la República and the Mint
The Banco de la República itself maintains a gallery of works of art that lovers of the subject will want to check out. The collection includes works by another important Colombian artist, the erotic painter Luis Caballero, as well as important works from the 19th century.
Casa da Moeda, also belonging to the bank, recounts the various forms of commercial exchange that were adopted throughout history until reaching the cryptocurrencies we know today, such as Bitcoin. Did you know that Native Americans used, for example, cocoa and corn to measure the value of other goods? Gold there had only ceremonial value. There are also examples of old and rare banknotes and coins.
Address: Banco de la República, Calle 11, no 4-93, next to the Botero Museum
Entry and operation: Both museums have free admission and are closed on Tuesdays.
National Museum of Colombia
Of all the museums on the list, this is the only one that is not close to the others. Located in the La Merced neighborhood, a region neighboring the center, the National Museum of Colombia is the largest and oldest in the country and one of the oldest on the continent. Founded in 1823, by the first Colombian president, Simón Bolívar, it has more than 20 thousand objects spread across 17 exhibition rooms that tell the history of Colombia from the first human groups, through the great pre-Columbian civilizations, colonization, independence and republic .
The archeology collection is the most impressive, with centuries-old objects from indigenous populations and mummies, but the museum also has other interesting pieces such as the collection of 1,500 works of Colombian art, documents that help narrate the history of the country and even a giant meteorite.
Address: Carrera 7, no 28-66, La Merced
Entry and operation: The ticket costs 4,000 Colombian pesos (R$5). The museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 6pm; Sunday, from 10am to 5pm. Official website of the National Museum
