Colombia: Bogota – Museo Botero
While museums are not really my thing (although it seems like I am more and more getting hooked on them as a great way of learning things in volumes and quickly), the Museo del Oro – Museum of Gold – in Bogota is an absolute must-see. It is the most visited museum in Colombia and also holds the largest collection of gold artifacts in the world, all of them from pre-Columbus discovering America. Gold was the sacred metal to the indigenous people of the Andes and quite abundant, so that not only decorations and jewelry, but also items of body armor, masks, utensils, and pottery were often golden or gold-plated. Over 6,000 golden pieces are on display, and a staggering 50,000 are in the vaults. The very last room on the top floor is the most incredible – you start out in complete darkness and then the light illuminates portions of walls with thousands of gold items, a bottomless floor with thousands more, before the entire circular room is lit with all the gold shining everywhere.
