Museo del Oro Bogotá


Useful Information

Location: Cra. 6 #15-88, Bogotá, Cundinamarca.
(4.601739, -74.072013)
Open: All year Tue-Sat 9-19, Sun 10-17.
Guided tours: All year Tue-Fri 11, 15, 16, Sat 11, 16 Español - Spanish.
All year Tue-Sat 11, 16 English.
Last entry 1 h before closing.
Closed on =1-JAN, Election Day, 15-APR, 01-MAY, 24-DEC, 25-DEC, 31-DEC.
[2022]
Fee: Adults COP 4,000, Children (0-11) free, Seniors (60+) free.
Free on Sundays.
[2022]
Classification: SubterraneaMining Museum MineGold Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:  
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Museo del Oro Bogotá, Cra. 6 #15-88, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Tel: +57-601-343-2222. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1939 gold museum opened to the public.

Description

Actually the name is Museo del Oro and it is located in Bogotá. We added the location to the name, as there are virtually dozes of gold museums all over the name, and all of them are quite convinced they are the only one. And like the one in nearby Costa Rica, it is owned by a large bank, in this case the Banco de la República. The mission statement of the Gold Museum is to "preserve, investigate, catalog and publicize its archaeological collections of goldsmithing, ceramics, lithics and other materials...". Okay, we left out the rest because they started spouting off some slogans. The museum is located in the center of Bogotá. It also has six other permanent exhibition halls, located in the regional Gold Museums. They are located at the Quimbaya Gold Museum in Armenia, Calima Gold Museum in Cali, Zenú Gold Museum in Cartagena, Nariño Gold Museum in Pasto, the Tairona Gold Museum in Santa Marta, and the Ethnographic Museum in Leticia. The museum organizes changing exhibitions, publications, workshops, seminars and conferences.

Quite exceptional is the fact that the texts of the permanent exhibitions are bilingual, in Spanish and English. The 2nd floor is dedicated to mining and manufacturing techniques of ancient metallurgy, and the use of metals within the political and religious organization of pre-Hispanic Colombia. The Cosmology and Symbolism exhibition on the 3rd floor explains the mythical themes, shamanism and the symbology of metals. Another highlight is an exhibition of perfectly preserved Muisca mummies. The offering room is a reconstruction of pre-Hispanic offering ceremonies. The 4th floor has a sort of multimedia exhibition with interactive displays. You should plan at least 90 minutes for a visit, interested visitors sometimes spend four hours at the museum.

The archaeological collection of the Banco de la República contains 34,000 goldsmith objects and 20,000 of other materials. Approximately 8,000 pieces are on display here. Another huge part or the gold objects is on display at the Museo Etnográfico del Banco de la República (Ethnographic Museum) at the Centro Cultural de Leticia. This is located in the city Leticia, in the southernmost corner of the country.

For some reason the museum is free on Sundays, and as a result it is very crowded, so we suggest to go any other day. It's also free on National Holiday (07-AUG). If nevertheless you want to go on such a day, you must obtain a ticket from the ticket office at the entrance, even when you are entitled to free admission. Only cash and no advance or online booking. Quite exceptional, after two years pandemic most sites offer only online booking. The museum has a café and a museum shop. It also offers free guided tours at certain times.