The Calima Gold Museum is an archaeological museum dedicated to the Calima culture located in the historic center of Santiago de Cali, Colombia . The Calima Gold Museum was the ninth museum created by the Bank of the Republic of Colombia in order to show the artistic and cultural expressions of the pre-Hispanic populations. It is also one of the Bank's six gold museums located throughout Colombia, their main one being the Gold Museum in Bogotá .
7-635: The museum contains 615 pre-Hispanic objects of gold, ceramic, stone, wood, shell, and other materials created by the Llama, Yotoco and Sonso societies, which historically lived in the region. Archeological pieces created by a fourth society known as the Malagana can be found in the Gold Museum in Bogotá. These pieces were not included in this museum due to storage limitations. Admission to the one room museum
14-528: Is free for all visitors and it is open from Tuesday to Saturday. A guided tour option is available on request. The museum is located inside the Bank of the Republic building. The museum was inaugurated on May 9, 1991 in order to conserve, investigate, and disseminate the archaeological heritage of the region, known under the generic name of Calima culture , and which refers to different human groups that inhabited
21-644: The Valle del Cauca during different periods of time. It is one of six gold museums owned and operated by the Colombian Bank of the Republic. The other five museums are in Armenia, Bogotá, Cartagena, Pasto, and Santa Marta. Calima culture Calima culture (200 BCE–400 CE) is a series of pre-Columbian cultures from the Valle del Cauca in Colombia . The four societies that successively occupied
28-457: The arrival of the Spaniards . The economy of Ilama was based on textile weaving, metallurgy, hunting, fishing, and agriculture. Yuca and beans were primary crops. The Chief or Cacique was the leader of the settlement. Other occupations were shamans, warriors, farmers, hunters, pottery men, and goldsmiths. Their ceramics were typically red and black, featuring religious imagery. By 100 CE
35-708: The Ilamas developed into the Yotoco Culture, which expanded their territory further into the Cauca River and the Pacific Ocean and to the south to the region of what is now the city of Cali . The Yotocos prevailed in the region until 1200 CE and were a highly stratified society headed by caciques, which managed several settlements. The population had increased, forcing them to develop effective agricultural techniques to feed its population which also improved
42-570: The techniques on pottery and metal works. They created polychrome ceramics and introduction of hammered goldware. The agriculture of the Yotocos was more varied than that of the Ilamas and was based on maize, yuca , beans , arracacha , achiote among others. The Yotoco started declining in the 6th century CE. Sonso culture (500–1200 CE) flourished during the Late Period I. Population increased, government became more centralized. Sonso culture
49-688: The valley and make up Calima culture are the Ilama, Yotoco, Sonso, and Malagana cultures . The Calima Darién Archaeological Museum and the Calima Gold Museum feature artifacts from the Calima culture. By 1500 BCE the Ilama culture, the first Agricultural-Pottery society, appeared along the Calima River , near the present day towns of Restrepo and Darien . Its society had a social structure of Cacicazgos (chiefdoms) that prevailed until
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