Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia

Visually stunning exhibition at the British Museum looking at the cultures of Colombia before the 16th-century arrival of the Spanish focusing in particularly on their gold work.

I loved the way this exhibition was arranged in small dark rooms almost giving the feel of being in a tomb and the low light made the gold really shine. I also like the fact that some items in units in the middle of the floor vibrated slightly as you walked past making any hanging items shimmer.

There were good displays telling you how the gold was made and explaining the different cultures but these were all out shone by the objects themselves. It really was an exhibition to wonder at beautiful things without necessarily fully understanding them.

It is hard to pick favourite objects from such a selection but there was a tiny jaguar which was really sweet and a rather abstract frog necklace which you could wear for your Christmas parties! The jewellery was fantastic but I do have a burning question about how people got the large decorative nose hangings through their noses!

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