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This article analyzes some of the social and political debates around building museums and memorials relating to the internal armed conflict in Colombia. Specifically, I address the discussions related to the construction of the National Museum of Memory (MNM), coordinated by the National Center of Historical Memory (CNMH), and the construction of the Museum Park of the Colombian Military Forces. The analysis of these cases reveals how narratives about political violence are constructed and presented, problematizing the social representations of the nation-state and its institutions. These observations also raise a number of questions about how these commemorative initiatives are received, especially by the victims of the violence in question. Finally, discussion of the representations of political violence demonstrate the importance given to these memory spaces as forms of symbolic reparation for the victims and for the promotion of moral values centered on the doctrine of human rights.