Museum of Antioquia
Photo: Own work — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Located in downtown Medellín, the Museum of Antioquia houses a vast collection of art, including works by Fernando Botero, and serves as a cultural hub for the region.
Planning your visit
The Museum of Antioquia is inseparable from Fernando Botero, Medellín's most famous son, whose inflated volumes of people, animals and objects are recognisable worldwide. He donated a substantial body of his own work and much of his personal collection of international art — Picasso, Chagall, Freud, Miró — to the museum, and the Botero galleries are its core.
Beyond him, the collection covers Colombian art from the colonial period onward, with strong holdings of Antioquian painting and contemporary work.
The square outside, Plaza Botero, holds 23 of his monumental bronzes in the open air, free to anyone walking past.
The context matters. Medellín in the early 1990s was the most violent city in the world; the transformation since has been substantial, and the museum's location in the once-abandoned downtown is part of a deliberate reclamation. Botero's Bird of Peace, a sculpture destroyed by a bomb in 1995, stands beside its replacement at his insistence.
Allow two hours. Bookable options include skip-the-line tickets. Current availability is listed below.
Before you book
Where is Museum of Antioquia?
Museum of Antioquia is in Medellín, Colombia. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Museum of Antioquia?
Allow two hours. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Museum of Antioquia in advance?
Skip-the-line entry is worth booking ahead here: the saving is the queue, which is exactly what sells out.
