Muisca Raft - Gold Museum of Bogota

The prehispanic Colombian culture is associated with goldsmithing, the spectacular pieces that were made so many years ago in an artisanal way are incredible. The Muisca raft is one of them, the story places it around the years 600 and 1600 and is a symbol of one of the ancestral rituals performed by the Muisca community. It's currently sheltered in the Gold Museum of Bogota, it's the center of attention in the room called The Offering.

I want to share 2 pictures of this spectacular goldsmith piece with my friends from @nTopaz today. The first photo corresponds to the raft front view and the second to the back view.

According to the legend and the information presented in the museum, every so often a ceremony "El Dorado" which was that a cacique accompanied by members of his tribe entered to the lagoons of the moors to give offerings, which consisted in throwing gold and emeralds into the water. It's said the piece of gold found in Cundinamarca represents that ritual. (Poster in Museo del Oro, Bogotá).

During my visit to Bogota I had the opportunity to explore the Museum, and this story caught my attention. For that reason I stopped to observe and photograph this wonderful goldsmith's piece that as you can see is the representation of the legend. It has a main figure that symbolizes the cacique and other smaller that would be the companions, it's necessary to emphasize the details of the gold masks they used to be used at that time.

You can see more pictures in my travel blog: smeraldatravel.com about the tour in the museum.

The ancestral stories are great, they have mysticism and invite us to imagine or reflect about our ancestors. In the gold museum there are many significant pieces, for me the most outstanding is the offering's raft, I loved the way it is presented and how it makes visitors imagine the ritual. The raft is located in the center of a dark room, surrounded by a large panel glass that protects and highlights it, it seems that it really is on water.