Museo del Oro Quimbaya

The Quimbaya peoples of the middle Cauca produced some of the most accomplished cast metalwork in the Americas, and above all the poporos, sealed flasks for the lime chewed with coca leaf, whose smooth swollen forms look like nothing else made anywhere. This regional branch of the gold museum shows them with ceramics and burial material from Quindio, Risaralda and Caldas. The building matters as much as the contents: Rogelio Salmona designed it in the 1980s in his usual red brick, with water channels, stepped courtyards and openings that frame the coffee hills, and it is regarded as one of his best works.

Highlights

• The poporos - the smooth cast lime flasks the Quimbaya are known for.
• Funerary ceramics - urns and vessels from the middle Cauca valley.
• Salmona's brickwork - courtyards, water channels and framed openings.
• The garden terraces - the building stepping down towards the hills.

When to go

Closed on Mondays and open through the middle of the day. An hour or two covers it, so it slots between coffee farm visits and makes a good option for the afternoon rain that is more or less guaranteed in this region. Weekends bring local families, while weekday mornings are close to empty.

Good to know

The collection is small beside the Bogota gold museum, and anyone who has already seen that one will find this a footnote. English labelling is thinner. It sits in a plain residential part of Armenia with nothing else within walking distance, so it is a dedicated trip. The building is arguably the main event, which will not satisfy everyone who came for the gold.

Nearby

Filandia and Salento are within an hour; central Armenia is fifteen minutes away.

Key facts