Best museums in Cusco that you must visit
Cusco is drawn to thousands of tourists each year for its amazing ruins in the Sacred Valley, its world wonder, Machu Picchu, however the city of Cusco itself offers so much more from local craft markets, traditional restaurants, its historic plaza de armas to the best historical museums.
Here’s our guide to the best museums in Cusco to check out while inn Cusco.
Inka Museum (Museo Inka)
The Inca Museum is without a doubt the best museum dedicated to the Incas, as well as the different periods from pre-ceramic, pre-Inca to the time of the Spanish invasion.
The Inca Museum is owned by the UNSAAC (the National University of Cusco (The fifth oldest in all of America).
The museum is located in a large Spanish colonial palace that was built and inhabited by the Spanish aristocrat Francisco Alderete Maldonado in colonial times.
It offers a great variety of archaeological pieces, such as: ceramics, building tools, decorative elements, textiles, metal work, clothing and even real mummies from the Inca period.
The museum also offers an explanation of the cultural significance of the coca leaf to the Inca people.
Museo de Arte Precolombino (Museum of Pre-Columbian Art)
Located in Plaza Nazarenas, also in the center of Cusco, specifically behind the cathedral of Cusco.
This is the only museum in Peru dedicated to ancient Peruvian art where, you will find a large collection of approximately 403 pieces dating from 1250 BC to 1532 AD.
The collection is spread over ten rooms located on the two stories that make up the Casa Cabrera. Visitor find, through objects mostly of ritual use, worked in stone, clay, wood, seashells and metals.
Natural History Museum
located at: Portal Belen, at Cusco main square. An interesting summary of the animals mainly of stuffed animals and birds found in Peru.
The museum also exhibits a collection of minerals, rocks and crystals. However, one of its main attractions is the collection of fossil vertebrates such as: megatherium, glyptodon, mastodon and more.
Machu Picchu Museum
Located near the main square of Cusco on Santa Catalina Ancha Street # 320.
The museum exhibits the collection of pieces brought from Machu Picchu during the excavations of Hiram Bingham in 1912 during the discovery of Machub Pichcu, along with some Inca artifacts that were discovered during the archaeological excavations during the restoration work of the Concha House in 2007.
Museo Histórico Regional
This museum is located in the colonial Casa Garcilaso de la Vega, the house where the Inca-Spanish chronicler who now rests buried in the cathedral.
This museum is divided into two levels. On the first floor there is a permanent exhibition of prehistoric and pre-Columbian objects and on the upper floor there are rooms with exhibitions of colonial, republican and contemporary art.
Coca Museum
Located in an old mansion, it has three galleries for visitors to see the permanent exhibition. Panels explain the use of coca in traditional medicine. It also presents ceramic, textile and lithic cultural goods.
This is a space to reveal to contemporary generations, the sacred leaf of the Incas from a historical, educational, cultural, social and scientific point of view, considering its multiple benefits, respecting its values and above all seeking a balance between the logical and the controversial.
If you are looking for more information about tours in the city of Cusco with the best museums in the city, click on the following link.
