The Muisca Raft was cast as a single piece using the lost-wax casting technique with a clay mold. The metal is a high grade gold (more than 80%) with native silver and copper alloy.
In one of my past post, I talk about of the Legend of El Dorado, today we travel close to Bogotá, to find the mythical El Dorado Lake, and the Muisca Raft in the Museum of Gold at Bogotá-Colombia.
The Discovery of the Muisca Raft
Three peasants found the raft among numerous gold objects in a cave in the municipality of Pasca, south of Bogotá, among numerous gold objects in 1856. The raft had been placed in a clay container in the shape of a shaman in a thinking pose, with his hand on his chin.
When the rumor of the finding circulated through Pasca, the local priest understood the importance of this heritage and embarked upon its defense to protect it from being exported or smelted.
Muisca raft in the Gold Museum in Bogotá
The Gold Museum acquired the Muisca raft, and since then it has been on exhibition in its Bogotá seat. The visit to the Museum ends with a ritual act that transports visitors to the times of the legendary El Dorado.
The most legendary piece of the Museum has never left the country, not even on one of the almost 200 temporary itinerant exhibitions with which the Museum shows this Colombian heritage to the marveled eyes of the world.
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