Larco Museum

1515 Avenida Simón Bolivar

The Larco Museum is the starting point of your visit to Peru. It has the largest collection of pre-Columbian pieces in the Americas and tells the history of Peru without being tiresome. That’s a feat in itself, because we’re talking about 10.000 years of history! Everything you’ll see in Lima and around the country will make sense after this visit. The quality and beauty of the pieces are amazing, showing all the complexity of the local cultures. It’s a beautiful museum, very well curated, the exhibits are simple and to the point and everything is explained in displays and videos. The museum offers also a super interesting guided visit for families with children. Other famous part of this museum is two private rooms dedicated to erotic pieces, showing the connection between erotic and fertility.

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Discovering Peru in Larco Museum

The Larco Museum is the starting point of your visit to Peru. It has the largest collection of pre-Columbian pieces in the Americas and tells the history of Peru without being tiresome. That’s a feat in itself, because we’re talking about 10.000 years of history! Everything you’ll see in Lima and around the country will make sense after this visit. The quality and beauty of the pieces are amazing, showing all the complexity of the local cultures. It’s a beautiful museum, very well curated, the exhibits are simple and to the point and everything is explained in displays and videos. The museum offers also a super interesting guided visit for families with children. Other famous part of this museum is two private rooms dedicated to erotic pieces, showing the connection between erotic and fertility.

Pueblo Libre and the Larco Museum

Pueblo Libre, one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods, offers lots of diversions for travelers. It’s home to one of the city’s top museums, the Larco, which showcases pre-Columbian cultures such as the Wari, Chimu, and Moche, and is famed for its collection of erotic ceramic pieces. The museum café is also a great place to lunch before walking to the National Archaeology Museum to view Peru’s history through the impressive collection of artifacts. After a day of soaking up culture, pop into El Pisquerito for one of the best pisco cocktails you’ll find anywhere in Peru.

Pueblo Libre and the Larco Museum

Pueblo Libre, one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods, offers lots of diversions for travelers. It’s home to one of the city’s top museums, the Larco, which showcases pre-Columbian cultures such as the Wari, Chimu, and Moche, and is famed for its collection of erotic ceramic pieces. The museum café is also a great place to lunch before walking to the National Archaeology Museum to view Peru’s history through the impressive collection of artifacts. After a day of soaking up culture, pop into El Pisquerito for one of the best pisco cocktails you’ll find anywhere in Peru.

Pueblo Libre and the Larco Museum

Pueblo Libre, one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods, offers lots of diversions for travelers. It’s home to one of the city’s top museums, the Larco, which showcases pre-Columbian cultures such as the Wari, Chimu, and Moche, and is famed for its collection of erotic ceramic pieces. The museum café is also a great place to lunch before walking to the National Archaeology Museum to view Peru’s history through the impressive collection of artifacts. After a day of soaking up culture, pop into El Pisquerito for one of the best pisco cocktails you’ll find anywhere in Peru.

Pueblo Libre and the Larco Museum

Pueblo Libre, one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods, offers lots of diversions for travelers. It’s home to one of the city’s top museums, the Larco, which showcases pre-Columbian cultures such as the Wari, Chimu, and Moche, and is famed for its collection of erotic ceramic pieces. The museum café is also a great place to lunch before walking to the National Archaeology Museum to view Peru’s history through the impressive collection of artifacts. After a day of soaking up culture, pop into El Pisquerito for one of the best pisco cocktails you’ll find anywhere in Peru.

Pueblo Libre and the Larco Museum

Pueblo Libre, one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods, offers lots of diversions for travelers. It’s home to one of the city’s top museums, the Larco, which showcases pre-Columbian cultures such as the Wari, Chimu, and Moche, and is famed for its collection of erotic ceramic pieces. The museum café is also a great place to lunch before walking to the National Archaeology Museum to view Peru’s history through the impressive collection of artifacts. After a day of soaking up culture, pop into El Pisquerito for one of the best pisco cocktails you’ll find anywhere in Peru.

Pre-Columbian and Erotic Art

It’s worth the knuckle-clenching cab ride to the Museo Larco just to step out into the lush foliage of the tropical oasis. The museum itself is an 18th-century colonial building that became the world’s largest collection of pre-Columbian art in 1926. Before the Incas there were the Moche, and a handful of other cultures with rich pottery, textiles, jewelry and stonework traditions. The phallic pottery in the Sala Erótica, located near Gaston Acurio’s Café del Museo, isn’t as jaw-dropping as the gold pieces in the main section of the museum, but it might make you laugh.

Museo Larco

Collector Rafael Larco Hoyle’s thoroughly impressive trove of pre-Columbian ceramics is considered Peru’s best. In an 18th-century viceroy’s mansion, the museum, founded in 1926, houses items from his amassed collection of some 50,000 ceramic works from the Chancay, Chimú, Cupisnique, Inca and Nazca cultures; as well as gold, jewelry and a highly provocative separate collection of pre-Columbian erotica ceramics that can provoke blushing in the more easily embarrassed among us.

The Larco Museum - Museum of Pre-Columbia Art

Lima’s Larco Museum showcases remarkable chronological galleries providing an excellent overview on 3000 years of development of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. Located in a beautiful 18th century mansion built over a 7th century pre-Columbian pyramid, it is surrounded by beautiful gardens including some incredible cactus. The museum feature wonderful collections from Ancient Peru and the famous erotic archaeological collection, one of the most visited Peruvian tourist attractions. Some will make you giggle.

The Larco Herrera Archeological Museum

This popular museum in Lima, Peru is absolutely packed with the largest collection of Peruvian antiquities on the globe and is a destination that shouldn’t be overlooked. The museum is divided into three parts: the main museum with tidily displayed exhibits, the warehouse museum - a mind boggling labyrinth of ceramics, and the erotic art museum which houses an intriguing selection of Mochica inspired, sexually-fused pre-Inca artifacts. The museum Pictured above is just one of many isles in the warehouse museum. Colin Roohan traveled to Peru courtesy of PromPeru, Travcoa, and LAN as part of AFAR’s partnership with The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA), whose members provide travelers with unparalleled access, insider knowledge, and peace-of-mind to destinations across the globe. Hear more about Colin’s journey on the USTOA blog.

Larco Museum

The Larco Museum is a must-visit stop in Lima. Known for its famous erotic archaeological collection, the Larco Museum also showcases a remarkable gold and silver collection from Ancient Peru, a large pottery collection, and a pre-Columbian weaving collection. In addition to the incredible museum displays, the Larco Museum also houses a charming café surrounded by beautiful gardens. After exploring the galleries, head to the garden café for an afternoon pick-me-up.

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