The Muisca raft (Balsa Muisca in Spanish), sometimes referred to as the Golden Raft of El Dorado or the Pasca raft, is a pre-Columbian votive piece created by the Muisca, an Andean people of Colombia in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes that established multiple chiefdoms in the region. The raft was a propitiatory offering made within the historical context of the emerging muisca chiefdom of Pasca. According to some scholars, the piece probably refers to the gold offering ceremony described in the legend of El Dorado, which occasionally took place at Lake Guatavita. In this ritual, the new chief (zipa), who was aboard a raft and covered with gold dust, tossed gold objects into the lake as offerings to the gods, before immersing himself into the lake. However, other anthropologists and historians consider the raft to not refer specifically to the Guatavita ceremony, as other, similar ceremonies were documented across muisca territory. The figure was created between 1295 and 1410 AD by lost-wax casting in an alloy of gold with silver and copper. The raft was part of an offering that was placed in a cave in the municipality of Pasca. Since its discovery in 1969, the Muisca raft has become a national emblem for Colombia and has been depicted on postage stamps. The piece is exhibited at the Gold Museum in Bogotá.

The Muisca people, also known as the Chibcha, were situated at 9000 ft elevation in the eastern Andes of Colombia near modern day Bogotá, the town of Tunja, and Lake Guatavita. While most Muisca villages had a chief and priests, the Muisca were generally an egalitarian agricultural people. They made pottery and textiles and mined emeralds and salt, but they lacked the gold and beeswax needed to create their signature gold pieces. For those raw materials, they bartered with neighboring peoples. Gold was not reduced to the use of the elite or the muisca chiefs, and was not the principal object of prestige, as it was mainly used for religious offering purposes. Instead, all Muisca families decorated their doors and windows with gold objects.

Gold was used in Central America by the first centuries AD and was spiritually and symbolically important to Pre-Columbian peoples. The countries of the Isthmus—Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia—emerged as a single goldworking region that shared styles and methodology, such as the use of lost-wax casting instead of hammering. Metalworking in the region began with objects for religious rituals and royalty, rather than as tools, weapons, or currency; this symbolic use from the outset established a precedent for metalworking throughout the region's history.

Muisca gold pieces are distinct from those of other Pre-Columbian peoples, in terms of their use, manufacture, and appearance. The Muisca votive offerings, called tunjos, were not worn as clothing or jewelry, but instead were used for symbolic purposes. They were often small enough to hold in the hand; sometimes as small as 1.5 cm (0.59 in). The tunjos were lost-wax casts using tumbaga, a gold alloy containing as much as 70% copper, whereas in other regions gold was hammered into the desired shape. Furthermore, the Muisca objects are identifiable by their rough surfaces in comparison to the polished gold in surrounding regions. Muisca art tended to include components that referred back to the raw material used in their own construction; for example, a statue who is depicted to be holding, in pouches, the substance from which it is made. Birds are a common motif in Colombian gold work.

Muisca goldworking influenced a wide region. Local copies of Muisca votive figurines have been found as far away as the Linea Vieja region on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica. Some of these design traditions remained unchanged for 1,000 years and were prominent at the time of contact.

The raft described a scene on a raft, perhaps a ceremony, including a chief and his servants. It was found together with another objet which represented a ruler seated on his litter, and was most likely a votive offering commissioned by the chief of Pasca. Traditionally, and notably at the Museo del Oro, it has been interpreted as representing the famous Guatavita ceremony associated with the myth of El Dorado. However, some scholars consider this interpretation to be "euro-centric", as other ceremonies on lakes were documented and the object was not found in association with the pre-columbian Guatavita chiefdom.

During the Guatavita ceremony, traditionally associated with the raft and detailed in the Legend of El Dorado, a new king covered his entire body in gold dust, floated on a raft to the center of a lake, and threw large quantities of gold votive offerings into the lake. The legend of El Dorado emerged from six accounts, three by the chroniclers Fernandez de Oviedo, Pedro Cieza de Leon, and Juan de Castellanos, and three by the conquistadores Gonzalo Pizarro, Jimenez de Quesada, and Sebastian de Benalcazar; subsequent descriptions are elaborations upon these six accounts. While the story was embellished with each telling, every version had several details in common, such as the lake and the gold dust. It is also known that the Muisca venerated lakes. Jennings details the ceremony as it occurs in one telling:

The El Dorado tale derives from the investiture ceremony of the Muisca rulers. The new chief was coated in gold dust and taken on a raft to the center of the sacred Lake Guatavita. At sunrise, when the light struck his golden body, the chief would dive into the lake, thus washing the gold off, and would emerge as a human ruler born from the divine golden sun. Music, shouting, and then tossing of large quantities of gold into the lake accompanied the ceremony.