Featuring more than 200 objects from the Museo del Oro in Bogotá, Colombia alongside dozens of pieces from the British Museum’s own collection, Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia at the British Museum strikes it rich with a mother lode of fascinating cultural artefacts and lots and lots of dazzling golden objects. Keen to see? You should be! But make sure to head over to the museum soon as the show ends in just a couple of weeks.
I thoroughly enjoyed ogling all that glittered in the Beyond El Dorado exhibition this past Saturday. A number of the works on display really excited my ‘tiki’ sense of aesthetics – very cartoon-y, non-western stuff heavy on the abstract style and seemingly on the symbolism as well. The craftsmanship that went into so many of the items in this exhibition impressed me – especially considering that pretty much everything in the show dates before the 16th century arrival of the Spanish. The chance to contemplate these few hundred works and consider how pre-contact Native Americans viewed and used gold as compared to their European contemporaries as well as most people today added a meaningful dose of fun to my weekend.
Whether visiting to learn about the historic or cultural aspects of gold in ancient Colombia or simply to take a gander at all that shimmering eye candy, I can’t think of anybody who wouldn’t find this show extremely interesting.
Sponsored by American Airlines (check out how the airline got all that gold over from South America!), Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia is on now and runs until 23 March at the British Museum (Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG). Find out more at britishmuseum.org.
