Museo Nacional de Colombia
Plan your visit

Getting here

The National Museum of Colombia is located on
7th avenue between 28th and 29th St.
Bogotá, Colombia
+57 (1) 381 6470

www.museonacional.gov.co
[email protected]

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Visiting hours

Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Galleries are closed on Mondays due to maintenance
Galleries close 30 minutes prior
to Museum closing hours

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Admission

Free admission to the Museum during 2012

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Guided Tours and Group Visits

Guided tours and group visits in English must be reserved in advance. Please contact our Educational and Cultural Division:
+57 1 381 6470, extension 2181, 2183

 

Temporary Exhibition

Gods, Myths and Religion
in Ancient Greece.
Ceramics Collection of the Louvre Museum

From July 11 to October 13, 2013. National Museum of Colombia

To celebrate its 190th anniversary, the National Museum of Colombia holds an exhibition that presents for the first time in this country original works from the Louvre Museum collection.

In the Gods, Myths and Religion of Ancient Greece exhibition, visitors are invited to view a selection of 94 pieces which provide a coherent view of the religious life of Ancient Greece and present the rich repertory of ceramic forms and the various pictorial techniques used.

The exhibition is organized in three main sections: the Greek Pantheon, Religion in the city and Religion in private life.

The Greek Pantheon introduces the public to the prolific universe of ancient Green mythology: it shows how the gods were defined, their attributes,, their relations with mankind and the way in which they manifested themselves.

Polytheism and anthropomorphism are two of the main characteristics of the Greek Pantheon. There are many gods and goddesses who represent nature in all its forms and who are not described as abstractions but as people. They are both immortal and omnipotent, but this does not prevent them from coming close to man, as they experienced anger, passion, love, jealousy and other human feelings just as people do. The gods and myths were a favorite theme in Greek art, whose function was essentially religious, placing them in a scenario that became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for poets, sculptors and painters. The iconography of the gods has been codified in time, often making them quite recognizable at first glance thanks to all the attributes and precise iconographic elements (object, animal, plant...) that make them easily distinguishable.

Religion in the city explores the relationship between gods and man in public life. Religion was at the core of life in Greek cities, as evidenced by the religious festivals and civic meetings on which the social cohesion of their society was based.

For Athenians, the essence of “fatherland” lay, above all, in the religion passed on by their ancestors, as is evident in the oath taken by the Athenian ephebes: “I shall fight to defend the sanctuaries and the city..., I shall honor our ancestral religions...”. Athenians cultivated this relationship with the gods in their festivities, amid sanctuaries and during sacrifices,

Religion and private life explores the intimacy of family life for which the Greeks used the word “oikos”, meaning “house”. Their religion marks the essential events of life: birth, marriage and death. Matrimonial scenes illustrate the decorative dress of the bride, nuptial processions, the ritual that accompanied the bride’s passing to her new home and the receiving of wedding gifts. On the other hand, Greek funeral iconography is richly represented by two kinds of images: those that illustrate the myths evoking the hereafter, depicting Infernos and sleep and death, and those that reflect day to day life, exhibiting either the dead or a visit to their tomb. These images highlight the importance of women in the ritual.

The learning gallery Keramos: the last temple of the Greek gods

To make the exhibition even more interesting, the National Museum has designed an learning gallery, Keramos: the last temple of the Greek gods, an area that gives visitors the opportunity to learn more about several of the Greek gods who appear in the ceramic works. In addition, the links between present day life and Ancient Greek culture are easily identified in a museographic montage, which is both didactic and accessible, and recreates scenes of the daily life of this civilization.