Our Jewels...

Poporo Quimbaya

La Cacica Guatavita

The Quimbaya Poporo is a piece of pre-Columbian art from the Classic Quimbaya period, primarily used as a ceremonial container for the ritual chewing of coca leaves during religious ceremonies. The specimen on display was crafted around the year 301 B.C.

It was discovered during the excavation of a burial chamber in the first half of the 19th century at a site called Loma de Pajarito, located between the present-day municipalities of Yarumal and Angostura in northern Antioquia.

In 1939, the Banco de la República purchased the poporo in an effort to prevent its destruction, marking the beginning of a project to preserve pre-Columbian gold and leading to the creation of the Gold Museum in Bogotá.

Máscara Tierradentro

The Tierradentro Culture was named by the Spanish Conquistadors, who used this term for the northeastern part of Cauca, a region known for its high mountains and deep canyons that enclose the area where this group settled around 1000 B.C.

After the conquest, this region was inhabited by the Paez indigenous people.

The realism and precision in the features of this mask, created by the goldsmiths of the Tierradentro Culture and now displayed on the third floor of the Gold Museum in Bogotá, bring us closer to the face of an important indigenous figure from our country's pre-Hispanic past.

Pectoral Quimbaya

This figure, which combines the ears and tail of a feline with the wings of a bird, and possibly a human face and a fish skeleton, embodies the multiplicity of magical faculties valued by indigenous shamans today.

This piece was crafted in tumbaga using the lost-wax casting and hammering technique.

The Anthropozoomorphic Pectoral, or Quimbaya Pectoral, is one of Colombia’s most representative artifacts and one of the most important pieces in the Gold Museum of Bogotá. There, versions of different sizes and various details are displayed, as they were used as symbols of power by the Quimbaya culture.

Hombre Jaguar

The feline as a symbol of power, the shaman, and the transformation of man into a powerful beast are key elements in representing the human-nature relationship among the indigenous peoples of the Americas. This connection is expressed in various ways in pre-Hispanic art and in the worldview of present-day communities. The Jaguar Man is an anthropozoomorphic stylization and one of the most important symbols of Colombia’s pre-Columbian culture.

This pectoral was crafted in tumbaga using the lost-wax casting technique and was discovered in the Corregimiento of Barragán, Municipality of Pijao (Quindío).

Colgante Cauca

El Colgante Cauca, también llamado coloquialmente “El Chaman” es la representación de un ave con su cola y alas desplegadas, posiblemente un condor o búho; sobre el pico tiene una nariguera torsal.

Es una pieza que fué encontrada por labores de "Guaquería" la cual tuvo la fortuna de no ser llevada a fundición.

Se considera una de las joyas “fugadas” de nuestro país ya que hace parte de la colección del Museo Británico de Londres.