Poporo Quimbaya
One particularly famous poporo, the Poporo Quimbaya, is a pre-Columbian artpiece of the classic quimbaya period, currently exhibited in the Gold Museum in Bogotá, Colombia. Its primary use was as a ceremonial device for chewing of coca leaves during religious ceremonies. It was made around 300 CE with a lost-wax casting process.
It is believed the artpiece was found at, and stolen from a burial chamber during the first half of the 19th century, at a place named Loma de Pajarito located between the current Yarumal, Angostura, and Campamento municipalities, northeast Antioquia, [1] during a time when grave robbing at pre-Columbian indigenous tombs (locally deemed as guaquería) was still very common. [2] [3]
In 1939 the Banco de la República, the central bank of Colombia, purchased the Poporo Quimbaya, in an effort to preserve it from destruction. This began a larger project of preservation of pre-Columbian goldwork that led to the creation of the Gold Museum in Bogotá.
The Poporo Quimbaya is an unusual piece, made of tumbaga, with oddly minimalistic lines, that give it a modern look. It is one of the most recognized pre-Columbian artpieces, being often used as a symbol of the indigenous pre-Columbian culture. It has been depicted in the Colombian currency, in coins and bills. A reproduction served as the winner's trophy for the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Tour Colombia cycling race. [4] [5]
The Museum of Gold is an archaeology museum located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the most visited touristic highlights in the country. The museum receives around 500,000 tourists per year.
The Museo Casa de Moneda is a numismatics museum located in La Candelaria neighborhood of Bogotá, Colombia. It is managed by the Bank of the Republic of Colombia and used to display its numismatic collection that is composed by around 18,600 objects that include artwork, banknotes, bonds, coins, derivatives, medals, negotiable instruments, and printing instruments from various periods and regions of the world.
Quimbaya Museum is a museum located in Armenia, Colombia designed by Colombian Architect Rogelio Salmona. It displays a large collection of pre-Columbian artcrafts: about 390 gold objects, 104 pieces of pottery, 22 stone sculptures, carved woods, and other objects, mainly from the pre-Columbian Quimbaya civilization, Embera and some other amerindian tribes. Some of the most important pieces are the gold Poporos and the zoomorphic vases.
The Quimbaya (/kɪmbaɪa/) were a small, ancient indigenous group in present-day Colombia noted for their gold work characterized by technical accuracy and detailed designs. The majority of the gold work is made in tumbaga alloy, with 30% copper, which colours the pieces.
Colombian art has 3500 years of history and covers a wide range of media and styles ranging from Spanish Baroque devotional painting to Quimbaya gold craftwork to the "lyrical americanism" of painter Alejandro Obregón (1920–1992). Perhaps the most internationally acclaimed Colombian artist is painter and sculptor Fernando Botero (1932).
Colombia's architectural heritage includes Spanish colonial architecture, such as Catholic churches. Its modern architecture represents various International Style architecture. In the postmodern architecture era, a wave of innovate and striking buildings have been designed.
Bacatá is the name given to the main settlement of the Muisca Confederation on the Bogotá savanna. It mostly refers to an area, rather than an individual village, although the name is also found in texts referring to the modern settlement of Funza, in the centre of the savanna. Bacatá was the main seat of the zipa, the ruler of the Bogotá savanna and adjacent areas. The name of the Colombian capital, Bogotá, is derived from Bacatá, but founded as Santafe de Bogotá in the western foothills of the Eastern Hills in a different location than the original settlement Bacatá, west of the Bogotá River, eventually named after Bacatá as well.
Quimbaya artifacts refer to a range of primarily ceramic and gold objects surviving from the Quimbaya civilisation, one of many pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia inhabiting the Middle Cauca River valley and southern Antioquian region of modern-day Colombia. The artifacts are believed to have originated during the Classical Quimbaya period 500 BC–600 AD.
The Museo Botero, also known as the Botero Museum, is an art museum located in La Candelaria neighborhood of Bogotá, Colombia. It houses mostly works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, however it also includes artwork by other international artist that were of Botero's own private art collection.
The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers in the central Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The area, presently called Altiplano Cundiboyacense, comprised the current departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and minor parts of Santander.
Muisca religion describes the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the central highlands of the Colombian Andes before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca. The Muisca formed a confederation of holy rulers and had a variety of deities, temples and rituals incorporated in their culture. Supreme being of the Muisca was Chiminigagua who created light and the Earth. He was not directly honoured, yet that was done through Chía, goddess of the Moon, and her husband Sué, god of the Sun. The representation of the two main celestial bodies as husband and wife showed the complementary character of man and woman and the sacred status of marriage.
Ana María Groot de Mahecha is a Colombian historian, archaeologist, anthropologist and associate professor at the Department of Anthropology of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Ana Mariá Groot speaks Spanish, English and French.
A tunjo is a small anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure elaborated by the Muisca as part of their art. Tunjos were made of gold or tumbaga; a gold-silver-copper alloy. The Muisca used their tunjos in various instances in their religion and the small votive offering figures have been found in various places on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia. Tunjos were used as offer pieces, to communicate with the gods and when the Muisca asked for favours from their deities. Muisca scholar Pedro Simón wrote about the tunjos of the Muisca.
This article describes the role of women in the society of the Muisca. The Muisca are the original inhabitants of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca in the first half of the 16th century. Their society was one of the four great civilizations of the Americas.
This article describes the economy of the Muisca. The Muisca were the original inhabitants of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau in the Eastern Ranges of central present-day Colombia. Their rich economy and advanced merchant abilities were widely known by the indigenous groups of the area and described by the Spanish conquistadores whose primary objective was the acquisition of the mineral resources of Tierra Firme; gold, emeralds, carbon, silver and copper.
Marianne Vere Cardale de Schrimpff is a Colombian anthropologist, archaeologist, academic and writer.
This article describes the art produced by the Muisca. The Muisca established one of the four grand civilisations of the pre-Columbian Americas on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in present-day central Colombia. Their various forms of art have been described in detail and include pottery, textiles, body art, hieroglyphs and rock art. While their architecture was modest compared to the Inca, Aztec and Maya civilisations, the Muisca are best known for their skilled goldworking. The Museo del Oro in the Colombian capital Bogotá houses the biggest collection of golden objects in the world, from various Colombian cultures including the Muisca.
Juan Friede Alter was a Ukrainian-Colombian historian of Jewish descent who is recognised as one of the most important writers about Colombian history, the Spanish conquests and a proponent of indigenism; the defense of the rights and descriptions of the oppression of indigenous people.
The pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia refers to the ancient cultures and civilizations that inhabited Colombia before the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century.
