The National Museum is one of the most important museums in Bogotá and one of the oldest in Latin America. It has three floors of permanent exhibitions: on the first We find all kinds of information about the museum itself: its origins, the history of the building – which, for many years, was a state prison –, as well as information of general interest about its exhibitions. 

On the second floor there are objects on display through which a large part of the history of Colombia is told. On the one hand there are economic issues, in which we learn about mining in Colombia and the importance that this practice has had from our pre-Columbian history to the present. Coffee production, rubber production, as well as the banana harvest are also presented, relating them to the various events that have influenced the Colombian conflict.

Finally, on the third floor of the National Museum of Colombia you can find various paintings by national and international artists: a space dedicated especially to pictorial and illustrated art. 

Now, one of the characteristics of the cultural work of the National Museum of Colombia is its constant openness to new artists and proposals. Through temporary exhibitions, the museum updates its cultural offering and remains relevant to the most important social issues and discussions of today. And currently, the National Museum has received a special visit. This is the traveling museum “The Flight of El Mochuelo. From the Montes de María to Bogotá.”

This new artistic commitment makes a compilation of the testimonies of the inhabitants of the Montes de María, a savannah region in northern Colombia, where different experiences of many of the violent events that have marked the political and social history of Colombia are exposed, specifically in this territory. 

The main objective of this museum exhibition is to generate a process of resilience among the affected communities: to deepen collective memory, non-forgetting, and non-repetition of this type of social and cultural events. Through its material dimension, the exhibition is rooted in its place of origin and offers an artistic look at the armed conflict. The shape of the exhibition is like a bird, making allusion to the popular owl, one of the typical birds of that region, as a metaphor for the flight of violent events, for a transformation of the territory, through the hope embodied in the community work of memory, as a commitment to peace.

This commitment is presented as a proposal where it is the community itself that builds the memories of its territories, and it is not other entities that rewrite their stories. This is how pain is faced and felt in this exhibition: with the hope of building a future, through control of emotions, leaving aside feelings of revenge and resentment, to make way for memory and reconciliation. 

Nueva Lengua is a Spanish school located in Colombia. Our teaching method is based on the philosophy that learning a new language must occur through immersive cultural experiences, through which students can study Spanish while learning about the history and art of Colombia and Latin America. With this goal in mind, in Nueva Lengua We organize weekly visits to different museums around the country, as well as different tourist and cultural activities that will show you Colombia from the inside. Are you looking to learn Spanish abroad? Nueva Lengua offers language courses with social and cultural immersion in Bogotá, Cartagena, Medellín, Ibagué and Guaduas 

Check the different tourist plans and activities what we have for you, or write to info@nuevalengua.com for more information about our Spanish and immersion courses culture in Colombia.