Ancient Colombian gold at the British Museum

Editorial Staff Exhibitions

by Carolin C. Young | Anthropomorphic bat pec­toral, 900–1600. Gold. © El Museo del Oro del Banco de la Republica, Bogotá, Colombia, on view at the British Museum, London.

The British Museum this season proves that gold has more to it than mere sparkle in a major exhibi­tion devoted to the metal’s uses and meanings in pre-Hispanic Colombia. Including more than three hundred objects from both the Museo del Oro in Bogotá and the British Museum’s own permanent collection, the show explodes Europe’s centuries-old myth that El Dorado was a lost city of gold. It starts off by correct­ing this misconception with an exploration of the ceremony through which the elected chief of the Muisca people was consecrated in­to his new role by diving into Lake Guatavita covered in powdered gold and rising out of it as “the Golden One”—El Dorado. This partic­ular case study introduces a far wider reaching investigation into the meanings and uses of gold from 1600 bc to ad 1700 in the region that also includes the Quimbaya, Calima, Tairona, and Zenú chiefdoms. The exhibition also illuminates the techniques used to create these astounding objects. A catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

 Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia • British Museum, London • to March 23, 2014 • britishmuseum.org

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