A magnitude 7.4 earthquake has caught Colombia's museum system off guard, laying bare just how financially fragile it really is. Museo de Arte de Pereira, located in Pereira, has closed its doors after sustaining structural damage from the quake.
The timing couldn't be more awkward. Colombia is heading into a new era under a right-wing government that's promised to tighten spending across the board—leaving cultural institutions, whose budgets were already stretched thin, now facing the extra burden of building repairs.
No further details have been released yet regarding how long the closure will last, the scope of repairs needed, or the specific extent of the damage. When Museo de Arte de Pereira will reopen remains up in the air.
