El Dorado Found

With its collection of over 50,000 dazzling artifacts created in pre-Hispanic times, Bogotá's Gold Museum is one of a kind. Now, thanks to a recent government crack-down on crime and corruption, tourists are trickling back to Colombia's capital to gawp at the treasures firsthand.

True, armed soldiers patrol Bogotá's wide, modern streets, and you'd be wise to leave your jewelry in the hotel before you head out — but who cares when all that glittery stuff awaits you in the museum?

Colombia's Indians worshipped gold and used it in their religious ceremonies. As part of the Muisca tribe's accession rites, for instance, a new chief was anointed in gold dust and sent on a raft into a lake, into which he'd hurl gold pieces as an offering to the gods. This ritual spawned the El Dorado legend of the fabled lost city coveted by Spanish conquistadors.

A tiny raft, made of fine gold — a model of the ceremony on the lake — is the Mona Lisa of the collection, kept in a darkened chamber. You can only marvel at the genius of the ancient artisans who crafted this and the equally incandescent jewelry, masks, breastplates (pictured), figurines, urns and — my favorites — funky animal sculptures in the museum.

It's not all about the metal: the exhibits on the lower floor whet your appetite with such everyday items as tools, pottery and fabric used by the societies that crafted the gold. But it's the bling that everyone finds transfixing, and on my visit, sure enough, I began to feel a little hot, a little giddy, a little loco — a classic case of gold fever. www.banrep.gov.co/museo/