Lima has a good collection of museums. Two are close together in the Park of the Exposition while others are scattered inconveniently for visitors around other parts of the city. You should consider visiting those listed below.
Museo de Arte (Museum of Art)
Paseo Colon Street No. 125, Lima.
Telephone: 423-4732
Open: Tuesday to Sunday from 09:00 to 17:00 Admission S 6, Wednesdays free
This is located in the Palacio de la Exposición which was built in 1872 with plans by Gustave Eiffel. It exhibits collections that show the art of Peru from the prehistory and the first human discoveries through to contemporary art. There are ceramic and fabric pre-Hispanic cultures collections, silver jewels, furniture and colonial dresses and many paintings.
Museo de Arte Italiano (Museum of Italian Art)
Paseo de la Republica 1st block, Lima.
Telephone: 423-9932
Open: Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 14:30 Admission: S 1
The building is a gem. This was founded in 1921, in a building with Florentine architecture. It was donated by the Italian colony in Peru for the centennial of the Independence of Peru. There are sculptures, drawings, furniture and canvases of Italian art.
Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera (Archaeological museum)
Bolivar Avenue No. 1515, Pueblo Libre
Telephone: 461-1312 and 461-1835
Open: Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00, Sunday 09:00 to 13:00 Admission:S15,
Founded in 1926, in an old mansion built in 1707, this museum has the largest private collection of pre-Columbian art in the world. There are archaeological pieces of ceramic, gold, stone, wood and textile of pre-Hispanic cultures, especially the Peruvian northern cultures. The Textile Art room, the Great Room of Culture, and the vault Gold Room are outstanding. It also exhibits the only collection in the world of "Erotic Huacos".
Museo de la Nación (Museum of the Nation)
Javier Prado Este Avenue No. 2465, San Borja.
Telephone: 476-9875 and 476-9882
Open: Tuesday to Sunday from 09:00 to 18:00 Admission: S 3
Before I came to Peru, I was only vaguely aware that the Incas were the last of several sophisticated civilizations who were incredibly good artists and engineers. In this museum I was able to put things into place.
Inaugurated in 1990, the exhibition is in big rooms over four levels. It covers a period from 14,000BC. to 1532AD. There are a ceramic exhibition, replicas of the main archaeological places of Peru, dioramas, paintings mummified Inca heads and diverse collections that represent the different aspects of the development of old Peru.