National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore
National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore, Ethnographic museum in La Paz, Bolivia
The National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore is a museum in La Paz housed in a baroque palace from the 18th century, displaying an extensive collection of crafts, traditional masks, and ritual objects from various cultures throughout Bolivia. The exhibition spreads across several rooms and shows how different ethnic groups shaped their everyday items and sacred objects.
The museum was founded in 1962 and developed from an initial collection into a major repository of Bolivian cultural goods. Over the decades, it grew through systematic acquisition of objects and became a center for documenting traditions and crafts from across the country.
The museum displays textiles from different regions of Bolivia that indigenous communities have made over centuries. You can see how patterns and techniques reflect in the exhibited pieces and what meaning these works hold for local identity.
Access to the museum is possible on weekdays, and it is advisable to come in the morning when the exhibitions are less crowded. Wear comfortable shoes for exploring the various floors with their many display areas.
A separate room of the museum is dedicated to numismatics and displays coins and banknotes from different phases of Bolivian history. This collection tells a different story than the better-known exhibits and shows economic changes through the design of currency.
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Bolivia sits in the central Andes, linking mountain ranges, high plateau lands, and lowland rainforests in a landlocked country. The changes in altitude create different climate zones and landscapes, from snow-covered peaks to tropical vegetation. Many visitors start in La Paz, a city that clings to...
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