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Quimbaya Gold: Pre-Columbian Masters of Armenia's Region

The Quimbaya civilisation — the pre-Columbian people of the Quindío region around Armenia — produced some of the finest gold work in the Americas; the Museo del Oro Quimbaya in Armenia houses extraordinary pieces from this lost culture

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Quimbaya Goldsmith
The Quimbaya achieved an extraordinary mastery of gold - their lost wax casting, their filigree work and their understanding of alloys (tumbaga, a gold-copper alloy) produced objects of great beauty; poporos (lime containers) are their most iconic shapes
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The Quimbaya Treasure
The Quimbaya Treasure – 122 gold pieces donated by Colombia to Spain in 1893 and now in the Museo de América in Madrid – is the most complete set of Quimbaya gold; The Museum of Armenia has excellent replicas and original items from other collections
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Poporo as a cultural symbol
The poporo - a small gourd or gold container filled with powdered lime, used with coca leaves for ritual purposes - is Quimbaya's most culturally significant object; gold poporos in Quimbaya are among Colombia's most prized archaeological artifacts
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Museo del Oro Quimbaya
Armenia's Museo del Oro Quimbaya – designed by architect Rogelio Salmona in 1986 in the style of a traditional Quimbaya municipal house – is considered one of Colombia's finest museum buildings; the building itself is an architectural statement of the indigenous heritage
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Quimbaya Civilization Territory
Quimbaya occupied the middle Cauca River valley and the Quindío highlands - the same landscape as today's coffee region; the connection between the archaeological gold culture and the contemporary coffee culture in the same landscape is remarkable
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Indigenous heritage in the region
Beyond Quimbaya, the Quindío region has a complex indigenous heritage—the Zenú, Sinú, and Carib peoples all interacted in the pre-Columbian period; The Museum of Armenia contextualizes Quimbaya within this broader indigenous history