This old building near the Museo del Oro doubles as a kind of colonial-style mall, filled with a convenient and cheerful collection of souvenir stands purveying everything from emeralds to soccer scarfs. For refreshments, there are two open-sided cafes; La Fuente, on the upper level beside a trickling fountain, does the best coffee.
![](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/2019-06/e6050f70f78ffa85b8d0ff532695a138-la-casona-del-museo.jpg?w=1920&h=640&fit=crop&crop=faces%2Cedges&auto=format&q=75)
La Casona del Museo
Bogotá
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.04 MILES
Bogotá's most famous museum and one of the most fascinating in South America, the Gold Museum contains more than 55,000 pieces of gold and other materials…
0.39 MILES
Even if you've never heard of Fernando Botero, you'll probably recognize some of his highly distinctive paintings of oversized (read: chubby) characters,…
0.11 MILES
Built between 1557 and 1621, the Church of San Francisco is Bogotá's oldest surviving church. In the atmospherically dark interior, with its extravagant…
28.92 MILES
Zipaquirá's stunning Catedral de Sal, 190m underground, was carved by removing 250,000 tons of salt; the resulting space is cinematically lit and packs a…
0.4 MILES
The usual place to start discovering Bogotá is the giant concrete Plaza de Bolívar, the heart of the original town. What it lacks in green foliage it…
0.39 MILES
Most of Banco de la República's permanent art collection, which features 800 pieces by 250 different artists spread over 16 exhibition halls at two…
0.61 MILES
On the south side of Plaza de Bolívar, beyond the Capitolio Nacional and reached via Carreras 8 or 7, this is Colombia's neoclassical presidential…
0.94 MILES
Housed in the expansive, Greek-cross-shaped building called El Panóptico (designed as a prison by English architect Thomas Reed in 1874), the Museo…
Nearby Bogotá attractions
0.04 MILES
Bogotá's most famous museum and one of the most fascinating in South America, the Gold Museum contains more than 55,000 pieces of gold and other materials…
0.1 MILES
Iglesia de la Veracruz is known as the National Pantheon because many of the heroes of the struggle for independence have been buried here.
0.11 MILES
Built between 1557 and 1621, the Church of San Francisco is Bogotá's oldest surviving church. In the atmospherically dark interior, with its extravagant…
0.11 MILES
Boasts a fine stone facade and lovely wood-carved altars in walnut and cedar set on white walls below a wood-carved ceiling.
0.35 MILES
On the northern side of the plaza, this massive, rather styleless edifice serves as the seat of the Supreme Court.
7. Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez
0.35 MILES
Slotting seamlessly into historic Candelaria, this cleverly constructed arts center anchored by a graceful amphitheater was designed by Franco-Colombian…
8. Museo de la Independencia – Casa del Florero
0.35 MILES
Just after Napoleon overcame Spain in 1810, local Creole Antonio Morales supposedly came to this late-16th-century home and demanded an ornate vase from…