Muisca rulers
Videos
Muisca rulers were so-called "aggrandizers", that is charismatic leaders at the head of various factions, who forged alliances and relations of subordination with various communities and ruled over th
Muisca Tunjos.
Lake Guatavita
Videos
Lake Guatavita is located in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes in the municipality of Sesquilé in the Almeidas Province, Cundinamarca department of Colombia, 57 km northeast of Bogotá, th
Muisca rulers
…also given the responsibility of offering gold to the gods. He would cover himself with gold and float out on a royal barge to the middle of the sacred Lake Guatavita, where he would offer up golden trinkets. This is widely believed to be how the legend of El Dorado started. When Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada arrived…
Laguna De Guatavita
The zipa used to cover his body in gold dust, and from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This Muisca tradition became the origin of the legend of El Dorado. Muisca raft in the Gold Museum, Bogotá, Colombia
Votive objects found at the bottom of Lake Guatavita. British Museum