Museums in Lima
Peru
Gold Museum of Peru
(Museo Oro del Perú)
This museum started as Miguel Mujica Gallo's personal collection. During his life he collected over 20,000 different original pieces and replicas from pre-Inca cultures as well as other periods of time. He created this museum so that people from around the world could see his immense collection. Not only is this a gold museum but it is also a weapons museum which shows different pieces from over the centuries including some priceless ones of important historical figures.
Av Alonso de Molina 1100 - Monterrico - Surco - Lima. Ph: (51-1) 345-1292
Open: Mon - Sun 11.30am - 7pm
www.museoroperu.com.pe (in English & Spanish)
National Museum of Anthropology, Archeology and History Museo
(Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia)
This museum is like a complete course in Peruvian archeology and history. It houses one of the most complete collections of ceramics, textiles and silverwork of pre-Columbian cultures. Here you can see pieces from the Chavín, Paracas, Nasca, Mochica, Tiahuanaco, Pucará, Chimú, Chachapoyas and Inca cultures. It also includes galleries and halls with pieces from the colonial and republican periods. There is an art gallery with paintings made by the Cusco school, a complete collection of colonial portraits, iconography of liberators, portraits of presidents and other representatives from Peruvian history.
Plaza Bolívar
Open: Tue - Sun 9am - 5pm
Museum of the Inquisition and Congress House
(Museo de la Inquisición y del Congreso)
The museum shows many objects used by those responsible for the Inquisition and different rooms decorated around that period of time. The main attractions are "The Door of Secrets" which leads to the private rooms of the Main Inquisitor; the Torture Room; the area of the secret underground dungeons and the Library of Inquisition or the Congress Library. There is also an Audience Hall to see which served as a gathering place for members of the Inquisition Tribunal. In front of this building, on a spot where the church and monastery of Mercy (from 17th century) originally stood, you can see the Palace of the Congress of the Republic, a building constructed in neoclassical architecture style between the years 1912 and 1916.
Jr Junín No 548.
Open: Mon - Sun 9am - 5pm
Museum of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru
(Museo del Banco Central de Reserva del Perú)
There are three main exposition areas: Archeology, Contemporary Peruvian Painting, and Popular Art. The museum also has the recently restored Main Tribunal of Accounts and Museum of Numismatic there.
Jr. Ucayali No 271.
Open: Mon - Fri 10am - 4.30pm and Sat - Sun 10am - 1pm
Museo Amano
This museum offers selected examples of archeological pieces such as ceramics from the Kotosh, Moche, Chimú, Cupisnique and Nazca cultures among others. The collection of pre-hispanic textiles shown in chronological order is exceptional. Among these are highlights is the exhibition of Chancay (Central Coast) culture.
Calle Retirno No 160. Ph: (511) 441-2909 / 442-1007.
Open: Reservations are necessary.
Archeological Museum of Rafael Larco Herrera
This museum presents a vast collection of private pre Hispanic art. The highlights are the ceramics, textiles and objects made from gold. There is also the most complete collection of erotic treasures and mummies of the Chavín, Chimú, Nazca and Inca cultures.
Av. Bolívar 1515 Ph: (511) 461-1312 / 461-1835
Open: Mon - Fri 9am - 6pm
Art Museum of Lima
This museum is located in the old Exposition Palace (1869). It shows ceramics, textiles and goldwork of prehispanic cultures. It also includes the most important collection of paintings and art in the country.
Paseo Colón 125, Lima. Ph: (511) 423-4732 / 423-6332 / 423-5149.
Open: 10am - 5pm. (closed Wednesdays)
Museum of Italian Art
(Museo de Arte Italiano)
Inaugurated in 1924, this museum was constructed by the Italian colony as a homage of the hundred year anniversary of Peruvian independence. Its frontage has been constructed in the Italian Art-Noveau style decorated with white marble, the coat of arms of the most important Italian cities and two mosaic panels with the most important people of their history. It has a permanent exposition of Italian art objects with element of Bramante architecture, relief and decorative details inspired by Donatello, Ghiberti, Michelangelo and Botticcelli.
Av Paseo de la República 250. Ph: (511) 423-9932.
Open: Mon - Fri 10am - 5pm
Archeological Museum of the Riva Agüero Institute
(Museo Arqueológico del Instituto Riva Agüero)
This museum displays the archeological artifacts excavated in the 1960s that date back from the pre-Inca time through the Incan period up to the arrival of the Spanish. Among the most important exhibitions is the burial treasure of Maranga. In the same place you will find a beautiful colonial residence known as the House of O'Higgins (la casona de O'Higgins) which displays pieces from the viceroy and republican periods.
Jr. de La Unión No 554. Ph: (511) 427-4961 & 626-2000.
: Mon - Sat 10am - 7.30pm and Sun 11am - 5pm.
Museum of Art and Popular Traditions of Riva Agüero Institute
(Museo de Artes y Tradiciones Populares del Instituto Riva Agüero)
This Museum was created in 1979 and contains a collection of more than five thousand pieces of popular art which are a part of important collections donated or handed over for protection. You will also come across some beautiful examples of handmade embroidery and textiles over the ages.
Jr. Camaná 459.
Open: Mon - Sat 10am - 7pm.
The Museum of Colonial Art of Pedro de Osma
This museum houses a collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture and other decorative art from the viceroy period.
Av. Pedro de Osma 421
Open: Tue - Sun 10am-1pm; 2:30pm - 6pm
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