Welcome to the National Museum of Colombia. Founded on July 28, 1823, it is the oldest in the country. Since its creation as a natural history museum and school of mines, its collections have been exhibited in different venues in Bogota. In 1948, the collections came to this building, formerly the Central Penitentiary of Cundinamarca, also known as the "Panopticon".
Transformation of the Museum's two interior courtyards began in 1948, with the transfer of the collections to this building that formerly served as a prison. The old prison courtyards became gardens and a variety of species were planted around several fountains.
For information regarding the galleries and educational and cultural activities, enquire at the information desk in the lobby, or ask the museum guides (wearing red vests).
This gallery invites the visitor to reflect on the diversity and cultural identity of the Colombian nation. Objects and images guided by ten thematic axes explore the country's cultural traditions and the relationships between them. You'll learn how different cultures conceive and relate to nature, and how these cultures construct and communicate ideas and knowledge based on cultural context. The exhibition also takes a look at the country's transformation over the last century and includes testimonials and artistic representations of Colombia's armed conflict.
What do the pen used to sign Colombia's most recent Constitution, an ingot made from melted weapons, an indigenous staff, and a necklace of coral stones have in common?
This group of objects illustrates the dialogue and exchanges between various cultural traditions and the ways in which, from the time of Spanish colonization until the present, tensions between European, indigenous and African cultures have changed or created new cultural manifestations of the sacred.
The Spanish conquest transformed the identity and the cultural dynamics of the people who inhabited the Americas. This process is evoked here in the grammar book of the Mósca language and several archaeological pieces manufactured by the Muisca people who inhabited the central Colombian Andes from around the sixth century BC.
This series of paintings and photographs provides an opportunity to reflect on Colombia's cultural and social diversity. Who are represented in the majority of the paintings on this Wall of Diversity? Who appear in these photographs? This wall allows us to draw conclusions regarding inclusion, exclusion and silences. Who are present and who are missing? Where are you the visitor?
This display presents a comparison between the construction of public opinion through printed materials and gathering spaces and the predominately oral transmission of knowledge in indigenous groups in the Amazon.
This section presents two different ways of relating to nature: the Western scientific tradition interested primarily in discovering, classifying, and making use of resources found in the environment, and the tradition of the Amazonian indigenous cultures that understand nature in a holistic, comprehensive, or complete manner, as a universe in which humans, animals and plants are closely related.
This map made by Agustin Codazzi around 1838 can be used to narrate the story of a region affected by multiple migrations and exchanges. The map illustrates the Amazon basin of RÃo Negro (Black River), a territory shared by three nations: Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil. How much do we know about this region? How close do we feel to the inhabitants of the region? This space inspires questions about the kinds of relationships we build with distant countries and our possible lack of knowledge regarding certain parts of Colombia, particularly those located in border areas.
This section illustrates one approach to the construction of memory during two different periods of conflict: The Thousand Days' War at the turn of the twentieth century, and the violence of recent decades. Witnesses and protagonists of these events left behind the objects displayed here for posterity, as testimonies of their experiences and reflections.
This display contains several works of art related to the conflict that invite the viewer to reflect on and form a critical opinion of political situations and violent events in the nation's history. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century and into the early twenty-first, many Colombian artists created works that reflect their views on the Colombian armed conflict.
Colombian diversity is represented in this display through cultural expressions such as objects, songs, sounds, images, landscapes, and people. Here, 435 images organized by decade –from 1910 to 1960– and taken in various locations throughout Colombia are projected to depict social, cultural, and geographical transformations resulting from industrialization and migration from the countryside to the city. The images reflect Colombia's historical and social complexity and record changes in the countryside, towns, and cities, and in the nation’s natural and cultural wealth, its people, and the places where they meet, among others.