The Museo de Arte Precolombino is the finest pre-Columbian art museum in Peru — a curated collection of 450 masterworks selected by Fernando de Szyszlo from the Museo Larco in Lima, displayed in a 15th-century Inca ceremonial building that was later converted into the colonial Casa Cabrera. The museum treats pre-Columbian objects as art rather than archaeology — the ceramics, gold work, textiles, and wood carvings are displayed in elegantly lit galleries with the reverence that European museums reserve for Old Masters.
The collection spans 3,000 years of Andean civilisation — Moche portrait vessels (ceramic faces so individualised they function as portraits), Nazca polychrome pottery, Chimú gold work, and the Inca stonework and metalwork that represents the final flowering of pre-Columbian Andean art. The MAP Café in the museum's courtyard is one of the best restaurants in Cusco.
Verified Facts
The collection was curated by Fernando de Szyszlo from the Museo Larco
The building was originally an Inca ceremonial structure
The collection spans approximately 3,000 years
The MAP Café is one of Cusco's best restaurants
Get walking directions
Plaza de las Nazarenas 231, Cusco
