Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

-- --- --)-·--··· -·-·· ~ ,- - . - . r ----- -- - ·--- - -. --· -•. - - URDAV MAGAZINE - - 1scom1n tlcularlJ ear and nose plec:a, than lta material value. , When the 18th Century Spanish Con· qulatadon aot the gold fever they lus– ted for these treasures. The Spanlarda showed no Interest whatever In the obJecL, they looted - only gold mattered to them and they melt.HI It down like scrap metal. During four centuries ol south Amer– lca11 occupation they shipped hOme more than 180 tons ol gold and made Spain the wealthiest kingdom In Eu– rope. It was not untll 1939 that Colombl&'s national bank, the Banco de la Repub– llca, recognised gold ornaments aa art and beaan preserving them. By 1068 about 10,000 pieces had been brought In and the bank establlahed a gold museum, the Mu•~o del Ora, In the oountry'a capital, Bogota. Today the collection h&a grown to In• elude more than 28,000 gold objects from the period aoo BO to 1500 AD. It la the world'a biggest collection of 1old artef&ct.a. The Auatrallan Art Exhlbttlona Cor– poration haa borrowed 238 gold pieces and 24 ceramics for display around Australia. About 200,000 people , already ha,•e seen the exhibition In Perth, Ade• !aide and Melbourne. The exhibition will end In Melbourne on July 2, and will be sho~•n In Brl•• bane at the Queensland Art Gallery from July 13 to AuiU•t 13, before mov• Ing to Sydney. This may be the last overseas show• Ing the Colombians allow. "They a.re getting lncreaSJ.ngly reluc– tant," AAEC executive director (Mrs. Bronwyn Thomas) said. "They want to boost their tourist trade and attract tourists to Bogota." The Australian exhibition Is so small It packs Into a couple ol suitcases, but Its value ta priceless. It Is Indemnified by the Federal Gov– ernment and Is being ruarded by elabo– rate security. Colombia WM never part ol the great American Indian empires - the Aztecs to the north and the Incas to the south. The small, Independent trlbu of Co– lombia reserved gold mainly !or cere• montal and burial purposes. Tales grew or legendary D<,rados, elu– ' 1tve places of fabulous treasure. One ol these was tdenttrted with I ceremony carried out by the Mu sea In– dians at Lake ouatavlta, In Colombia's central hl~h plateau. The legend Is that a king covered his naked body with resin coated with gold dust, and glittering "like a ray or lu– minous sunshine" floated on a raft to the middle ol the lake, where he cast gold offerings to the gods. A big audience or deltghted warriors then named him El Dorado - "the gtl• ded one." This gold rolklore goaded many con• quest expeditions. When the Conquistadors started ar– ri\·lng a vast number or guld-bearlng graves and Lornbs were scattered all O\'Cf Colombln. Onlr the lncnls knew where t.hc rich• cs wei·e hidden. The t.rnrlltion or secrecy continued lnn~ nf tt:'r the Spanish trw nsions and tmenstfled when gold objects became vnluable ns art, Most of the museum pieces were unearthed by qUaqucros, freelance trea– sure hunters or "gra\'e robbers" who still guard wlthln their families the se– crets or where the gold can be found. Their crude methods have ellmlnated ncnrly nll archneologicnt evidence thnt 1111Aht hR\'e cnnbled experts lo date the p;old nccurnlel~· n.nd picture how it was mnde nnd used. Howc\·cr. it is dcnr tnC'rC \\ere town~ 1nlrnOllCd nllllOH CXCIUSl\'CIY b~r i;i:olrt• working nrt l!'-inn~ who mndo proclurt!i fnr tl1c1r ow11 ~rou p nnd also Lo trarle with ne1~hbourlng t rlbes. T hese crnrt~mcn sl1Rrcd ~amilnr rul• rnrn l lrn.11 ~. h11l thr y Ahm r xprrlmcnted Anrl dcr r lopcd l'N!'onnl cilrlcrrncf'.'i. The f)hj rct:,; nrnrll' ln t hr rllffl'l'Cllt. l'r.– (llOllS were R1-1tonlshmglr vnrlrrt. These nnc1011t. p_olcl!llllllhs nchlc\C'd rcmnrknble tcchn lcnl resu1i.s, consid– ering the primitive means. ~.1 Dorado : Coton>blan Gold Is prr--.r""l 1 ur1 lw thr \ 11<-r rAlfr1 ·1 ,, rf J."' 1 ·h • STUNNIN,; funeral mask of hammered gold which is one of 238 gold treasures from the El Dorado Colombian Gold Ex– hibition coming to the Queensland Art Gallery. HELMET of ho"11mered gold from Quimboya region Colombia It is 9.2 cm. high. \