{"id":2094502,"date":"2026-08-14T18:55:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2094502"},"modified":"2026-08-14T18:55:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:55:37","slug":"colombias-museo-de-arte-de-pereira-closes-from-earthquake-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2094502","title":{"rendered":"Colombia\u2019s Museo de Arte de Pereira Closes from Earthquake Damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-11-at-11.12.03.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tAs workers race against the 72-hour, so-called golden window to rescue survivors from collapsed buildings following Monday\u2019s devastating 7.4 earthquake in northern Colombia, the region\u2019s museums are also in serious jeopardy.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Monday evening, Alejandro Garces, a curator at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, posted photos on Instagram of the damage sustained to the museum that is located about 220 miles west of Bogot\u00e1 and is the principal art institution for the states of Caldas, Risaralda, and Quind\u00edo, which together form the \u201cZona Cafeteria\u201d or the country\u2019s coffee triangle.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe images show whole walls collapsed, leaving its interior with sweeping views of the city. Jagged X-shaped fissures ripped through galleries, exposing bricks and concrete and leaving paintings and framed prints clinging to teetering walls. An exterior wall of a building adjacent to the museum\u2019s 300-seat theater fell on the roof causing it to cave in and leaving a gaping opening. Twisted lighting tracks and dangling electric cables pierce the blue summer sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his post, Garces wrote, \u201c70% of the cultural infrastructure of Risaralda is in ruins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPereira, the largest city of the Risaralda Department with a population of approximately 500,000, is located just 35 miles from the epicenter of Monday\u2019s earthquake. Registering a magnitude similar to the one in Venezuela this past June, Colombia was fortunate that much of the force was blunted by the 64-mile depth of the epicenter causing the seismic energy to weaken as it traveled to the surface. The Venezuela quake, by comparison, had a depth of about 12 miles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A large-scale painting hangs from a cracked wall at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia.<\/span>Courtesy Alejandro Garces<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe cities of Pereira and Manizales, located about 30 miles northeast, are among the most severely affected by the disaster and so far account for more than half of the current death toll. As rescue workers search for the missing and families grieve their departed, survivors are also grappling with the loss of homes, businesses, and sites that comprise cultural life.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the area affected by the earthquake, they have identified 14 museums that have been affected,\u201d Libardo D\u00edaz, director of the Museo Rayo in nearby Roldanillo, told ARTnews<\/em> in a phone interview. D\u00edaz\u2019s institution has also experienced significant damage. \u201cOf these, the one in very grave condition is the Museo de Arte de Pereira.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Works hang on cracked walls at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia.<\/span>Courtesy Alejandro Garces<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe Museo de Arte de Pereira is the largest contemporary art museum in the region. Initially founded in 1974 as the Center for Contemporary Art, it became a museum in 1996 after the passage of \u201cla ley de la cultura\u201d which established a fund for the promotion of art and culture. With those funds, the organization was able to expand and rebrand as a museum, opening a new building designed by Colombian architect Willy Drews Arango.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe museum\u2019s 520-piece collection includes works from late 20th-century Colombian artists like Oscar Mu\u00f1oz, Olga de Amaral, Beatriz Gonz\u00e1lez, who passed away this past January. The museum is \u201cnot only significant for Pereira\u2014it\u2019s quite significant for the much larger region,\u201d said Mar\u00eda Paz Gaviria Mu\u00f1oz, who was director of Bogot\u00e1\u2019s ArtBo fair from 2012 to 2024 and is from Pereira. \u201cIt\u2019s been key to the decentralization of arts in the country, beyond Bogot\u00e1, Medell\u00edn, and Cali.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A hole in one side of the building at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia.<\/span>Courtesy Alejandro Garces<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tEngineers\u2019 inspection of the Museo de Arte de Pereira on August 11 determined that the damage from the quake was extensive \u201cbut not structural,\u201d according to Rosa \u00c1ngel, a board member who is in charge of the institution\u2019s emergency response. Even though the beams and columns of the museum are sound, many walls and roofs will have to be rebuilt, demanding a \u201creconstruction that is going to be very complex,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGiven the extensive damage, the museum is closed to the public. How long the museum will remain closed, how much reconstruction will cost, and how the museum will pay for it is still unknown.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough technically operating as an independent nonprofit, the museum is largely sustained with government funding from the city, state, and the Colombian Ministry of Culture. The damage from the quake comes as \u201creductions in already very limited national and [local] government funding have left the museum in a complex economic situation,\u201d Gaviria Mu\u00f1oz said. \u201cSo now, as we start talking about the need for reconstruction [we must also consider that] it will need very substantial funds to continue operating.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Paintings lined up for their protection after the earthquake, at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia.<\/span>Courtesy Alejandro Garces<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe far-right Espriella government is only days into its tenure. Elected based on an agenda to cut government spending by 40 percent, it\u2019s unclear how\u2014or even if\u2014the Ministry of Culture will step in to support the Museo de Arte de Pereira, Museo Rayo, or any of the other 12 damaged museums. ARTnews<\/em> has contacted the ministry for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scale and abruptness of natural disasters like Monday\u2019s earthquake make for stark contrasts and difficult choices. \u201cThe city is trying to rescue people from the rubble. People are homeless, without things\u2014it\u2019s very, very difficult,\u201d \u00c1ngel said, \u201cbut we also have to fight for our cultural infrastructure and do the work to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut as the Zona Cafetera rebuilds, advocating for the museum to reopen is important, she said, because \u201cculture is the cement that keeps us united as a society.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cracked walls at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, Colombia.<\/span>Courtesy Alejandro Garces<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/museo-de-arte-de-pereira-colombia-earthquake-damage-closed-1234795012\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-11-at-11.12.03.jpg?w=1024″] As workers race against the 72-hour, so-called golden window to rescue survivors from collapsed buildings following Monday\u2019s devastating 7.4 earthquake in northern Colombia, the region\u2019s museums are also in serious jeopardy. On Monday evening, Alejandro Garces, a curator at the Museo de Arte de Pereira, posted photos on Instagram of the damage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2094502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2094502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2094502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2094502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2094502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}