The Gold Museum

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The Gold Museum displays an extraordinary selection of its pre-Hispanic goldwork collection - the biggest in the world, boasting 33,000 individual pieces, from simple earrings to some of the most beautifully crafted masks and figures in the world. Together with other pottery, stone, shell, wood and textile archaeological objects, these items testify to the life and thought of different societies which inhabited what is now known as Colombia before contact was made with Europe.

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It features stunning examples of craftsmanship in the precious metal from the pre-Hispanic era.

Despite the extensive pillaging of pre-Columbian art by the conquistadores and the mass exportation of South American gold from the 17th to the 19th centuries, many magnificent works of art created by the region's indigenous cultures before the European invasion still remain.

The Bank of the Republic began in 1939 helping to protect the archaeological patrimony of Colombia. The object known as Quimbaya poporo was the first one in a collection that has already 65 years.

It houses the famous Muisca’s golden raft found in Pasca, Colombia, that represents the El Dorado ceremony. 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.

It gives a glimpse of the power of the myth of El Dorado, the legendary city of gold that captivated the imagination and stirred the greed of European explorers for more than two centuries.

The exhibition unfolds over three floors, offering an insight into the historical, geographical and social development of pre-Columbian cultures through stone, clay, bone, textiles and, of course, gold.

The climax of the museum is the collection housed in a huge vault on the third floor. Within this strong room is the magical Salon Dorado, where visitor access is restricted to a handful at a time. Once inside the room, prepare to be amazed at the breathtaking display featuring 8000 pieces of shimmering gold.

Because of cold shower and noise do not go along well with our peace of mind, we make the easy choice of changing hotel. We leave Candelaria altogether, and move up north to Zona Rosa. We considerably change travelling style as we move in our new hotel. Hey, after the hard times in Congo, let’s splurge a bit...

Jonathan comes and picks us up for lunch. We go to a nice neighbourhood, at calle 116. There are lots of small markets on Sunday in Bogota, we wander a bit around.

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Lots of shops are closed on Sunday, so we head to Zona Rosa, where malls are still opened. We sip coffee and start planning a bit our trip in Colombia (we haven’t prepared much before leaving). The plan is roughly this: we need to renew my visa the next day so we’ll stay another day in Bogota, we then will move to the Caribbean coast. Then go back to Bogota, party on Saturday and leave on Sunday for the Zona Cafetera. We don’t know yet what the third week of our trip will be. We’ll see.

We finish the day by watching a movie on cinema: “In Search of Happiness” that was quite nice.

Tip of the day

Gold museum is free on Sunday. An audio tour is $6000, and is available in Spanish, English and French.

We stayed at Hotel Andes Plaza; Ave 15, no 100-11, tel 314 8180, www.hotelandesplaza.com, email: reserves@hotelandesplaza.com.co; 100 usd the double breakfast included.

A 4 stars hotel, with decent rooms. Try to get room 1105 that is nice and has internet available. Avoid rooms whose number ends with more than 9 (like 1109, 1110, etc.)

Excellent coffee at Juan Valdez, a coffee chain that can be found in many places in Colombia.

The travel agency La Marina, located within Hotel Andes Plaza, offers the cheapest plane tickets in town. Tel. 636 3537.

Airfare from Bogota to Cartagena return is usually $720,000, but we had a deal at $520,000.