Diverse Delights Three of Lima's Best Museums
In a City of Good Museums Three Stand Out for the Insights they Hold
May 1, 2009
In a country as choc-full of history as Peru it should come as no surprise the capital, Lima, has some excellent museums. What is surprising though is the diversity and range of these museums but for travelers without too much time here are the Big Three.
Museo de la Nacion from Pre-Colombian to Shining Path
The mothership of these is the Museo de la Nacion, Javier Prado Este 2466, San Borja. Not the nicest building unless you like concrete but this multi-storey museum showcases a number of different collection. And as public facility it is free.
Some of it is fairly predictable, pottery from Peru’s different pre-Colombian civilizations, whilst others are quite different. For example the folkloric gallery shows the how past and present are connected as well as the variety of local arts and the top floor multi-media installation on the Shining Path years is good if challenging.
Pueblo Libre the City's Historic District
Crosstown in Pueblo Libre two very different museums offer up supplementary collections one with a historical twist.
The Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Arqueologia y Historia del Peru has two distinctly different collections. The first is a large and well-organised is about Peru and its various civilizations before the Spanish arrived. Yes there is more pottery but there are also some interesting scale models.
The second is about Colonial Peru which is rather fitting as this building was the home at various points of not one but two of revolutionary heroes, San Martin and Simon Bolivar.
It is a very nice building one where lingering is a part of the pleasure and the surrounding area has a lot to offer. A stones throw from the Museum is the Inglesia Santa Maria Magdalena, one of the prettiest Churches in Lima and the traditional streets adjoining have a number of characterful cafes.
Connected by a thin blue line painted on the pavement is the other great museum of Lima, Museo Rafael Larco Herrera, which is a ten minute walk through a decent if not spectacularly nice area.
Again it uses a colonial mansion and what a use. Not only is the café/restaurant much admired but the ceramics collections are amongst the best and most explicit that can be seen. There is a gallery given over to gold and silver pieces but it’s the two pottery galleries that delight.
Pottery a Real Treasury but Not Sexy Let Alone Erotic
One the really well-endowed one contains 50,000 pieces and even with a minimum of labelling you get an idea of just how diverse and talented the pre-Columbian peoples were. Stacked floor to ceiling it is a real treasure trove and insight into their cultures. Highly recommended.
Less so is the Erotic Gallery. Talent did not mean the pre-Colombians were without an interest or an imagination about sex. Rather the opposite seems to have been the case but rather than make films or write books about it they made pots which show rather explicitly various activities taking place between men and women skeletons and animals.
It hints at a much darker side to their lives and cultures one which didn’t bring out the best in their potters. Still its worth seeing as the museum is.
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