Museo Colonial (museocolonial.gov.co; foreigners US$10 or the COP equivalent), housed inside Casa de Aaulas, built as a Jesuit stronghold in 1610. Exhibition halls 1 and 2 chronicle the rise of Christianity in Colombia, which Spanish colonizers used to conquer indigenous communities by erasing local traditions. Don't miss hall 3 (examining how Bogotá took shape around rivers and religious sites) and hall 5 (exploring how Catholicism remains integral to the city's identity.)
This museum traces the evolution of how religious and portrait art pieces are made, particularly by Colombia's favorite baroque artist, Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos (1638–1711). It reopened in 2017 after an extensive, three-year renovation and now features five permanent galleries.
