Bogota Culture

Bogota is Colombia’s cultural capital and takes the role seriously.

Muisca gold

The Museo del Oro holds around 34,000 gold objects made by Muisca, Quimbaya, Tairona and Calima peoples using tumbaga, a gold and copper alloy, and the lost-wax casting technique. These were ritual objects rather than treasure, deposited in lakes and caves as offerings, and the museum presents them as such rather than as loot. The Balsa Muisca, a small raft figure showing the El Dorado ceremony, is the centrepiece.

Botero

Fernando Botero gave the city over a hundred of his own works and dozens from his private collection — Picasso, Monet, Dali, Bacon — on condition that admission stayed free. His inflated figures are recognised worldwide and read differently here, where several deal directly with Colombian violence.

Street art

Effectively decriminalised after police killed a teenage graffiti writer in 2011, the scene is now among the best in the world, politically pointed and openly commissioned.

Theatre and festivals

The Ibero-American Theatre Festival is one of the largest performing arts events anywhere.

Coffee

Colombia grows washed arabica at altitude across the coffee belt, and until recently exported essentially all the good material. That has changed: Bogota now has a serious specialty scene buying single-farm lots, roasting locally and brewing properly, concentrated in Chapinero and La Candelaria. It is one of the few places where you can drink the best Colombian coffee in Colombia.

Music

Rock al Parque is the biggest free rock festival in Latin America; salsa and vallenato are everywhere.