Museo de La Salle

Bogotá


This natural-science museum at La Salle University uses the science of taxidermy to preserve and promote Colombia’s rich biodiversity. The three floors of permanent exhibitions are composed of skilfully 'stuffed' species, including a giant Andean condor, the largest flying bird in the world. Other exhibitions include a paleontology display of millions-of-years-old fossils and minerals, and primates.

The museum’s history dates back to when men from the Brothers of Christian Schools, a religious order founded in 17th-century France, arrived in Colombia with the intention of investigating, collecting, and recording Colombia’s immense flora and fauna. The museum was opened to the public in 1904 but suffered a terrible loss in 1948 during the Bogotazo, a period of violence that arose when popular liberal politician, Jorge Gaitán, was murdered. Downtown Bogotá was utterly destroyed, leaving the museum devoid of years of research (55,000 specimen were lost). Today, the museum has recovered its loss and is about to undergo a widespread renovation at time of writing.

Transportation

  • bus: Museo del Oro TransMilenio Station | San Victorino TransMilenio Station

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Bogotá attractions

3. Museo Botero

0.19 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,…

4. Museo Militar

0.2 MILES

This two-floor museum is run by military guys in fatigues, and features playful models sporting the history of military uniforms (note the 'antiterrorist'…

5. Colección de Arte

0.21 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…

6. Plazoleta del Chorro de Quevedo

0.21 MILES

No one agrees exactly where present-day Bogotá was founded – some say by the Catedral Primada on the Plaza de Bolívar; others say here, in this wee plaza…

7. Casa de Moneda

0.21 MILES

This historic museum inside the Banco de la República complex houses the Colección Numismática as well as the Colección de Arte. The former exhibit starts…

8. Santuario Nuestra Señora del Carmen

0.25 MILES

With Spanish colonial architecture dominating the historical centre, this peculiar Gothic-style church, adorned with Byzantine and Arabic art, is a rare…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "colombia/bogota/attractions/museo-de-la-salle/a/poi-sig/1569590/363308",
      "destination": "Bogotá",
      "continent": "South-America",
      "country": "Colombia",
      "city": "Bogotá",
      "position": "superzone"
    }