Archeological Collection of the Gold Museums

The Banco de la República, the Central Bank of Colombia, is the country's institution in charge of preserving, managing, and promoting the cultural heritage of the nation. The cultural function of the organization is realized through a network of museums, archives, virtual platforms, and other initiatives carried out in over 29 cities. The work of the Banco de la República combines collections related to music, plastic arts, documentary, numismatic, philatelic, archeological, and ethnographic elements.

Each of the collections is hosted throughout the country in cultural centers designed by thematic focus related to regional and socio-cultural needs. One of the most emblematic collections is the one contained in the Museos del Oro, the Gold Museums, the largest collection of pre-hispanic gold in the world comprised of gold, ceramics, and lithic pieces among other artifacts. The Archeological Collection of the Gold Museums is the product of over 80 years of work conducted by the Colombian Banco de la República to protect and disseminate the country's cultural heritage. The virtual platform presents artifacts gathered from the seven gold museums located in different regions of Colombia.

The virtual platform provides access to a large portion of the Gold Museum's collection presenting photographs and detailed descriptions of each artifact. The site is in Spanish, with some relevant information available in English which allows for alternative and novel approaches to teaching and learning pre-hispanic history and cultures. These could include the creation of learning units that encourage the direct involvement of Spanish speakers in leading discussions and cultural representation roles.

The digital platform is well structured and offers filtering tools for users to conduct searches based on materials, cultural units, regions, and functions of the artifacts. Each artifact is accompanied by a fact sheet that can be downloaded and shared. Another feature is the option to create personalized selection lists to create customized groupings. The Banco de la República allows fair use of the texts and images available in the site for educational, dissemination, and social media purposes as long as they are not used for profit, and must include proper credit to the Banco de la República.