Latin American Museums

Copyright Courtesy Horniman Museum/Michael Harding

British Museum

The British Museum has strong collections on the history of Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spaniards. Room 27 is devoted to these objects. Many are made of elaborately carved stone, but the museum also holds a rare surviving book made by the Mixtecs. The codex on display in the far case of Room 27 is a copy of an original too fragile to display.

In the Gallery of Living And Dying (Room 24) you can see the elaborate festival costumes worn by present-day Bolivians from the town of Oruro. The festival's origins echo the coming of the Spanish. A costumed "devil of the mines" recalls the time when the Spanish sent enslaved Bolivians into the silver and tin mines to do perilous work.

The Horniman Museum

The lesser-known Horniman Museum - tucked away in South London's Forest Hill - houses a collection of ancient and historical objects and artefacts that, here in London, is second only in significance to the British Museum. It's a treasure trove of fascinating pieces including a large number of painted masks from countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Bolivia. The Horniman is also the home of a large collection of indigenous and imported instruments from across Latin America, including the bandoneón, used in Argentinian tango, and Brazilian percussion instruments used in candomblé rituals. Well worth a visit...