The National Museum of Peru is a national museum in

Lurín District The valley of Lurín is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. Known for its archaeological temple of Pachacamac, the Pachacamac Island or "La Ballena", countryside areas, villages, fincas, rural restaurants, nightlife and beaches, it is one of ...

, Lima, Peru, located within the archaeological zone of

Pachacamac Pachacámac ( qu, Pachakamaq) is an archaeological site southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. The site was first settled around A.D. 200 and was named after the "Earth Maker" creator god Pacha Kamaq. The site flourished ...

. The museum will hold over a half million artifacts of the

Pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

and

Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

, ranging back to 5,000 BCE. It opened in July 2021 as part of Peru's bicentennial celebrations and is capable of accepting 15,000 guests per day.

History

Planning and construction

Ideas for a national museum were first proposed by

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (25 February 177817 August 1850), known simply as José de San Martín () or '' the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru'', was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and centr ...

in 1822 when he proposed a national museum, library and archive to be constructed during the

Peruvian War of Independence The Peruvian War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia del Perú, links=no) consisted in a series of military conflicts in Peru beginning with viceroy Abascal military victories in the south frontier in 1809, in La Paz revolution an ...

. The idea was promoted again nearly two centuries later by Minister of Culture Diana Álvarez Calderón during the administration of President

Ollanta Humala Lieutenant colonel Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso (; born 27 June 1962) is a Peruvian politician and former military officer who served as President of Peru from 2011 to 2016. Originally a socialist and left-wing nationalist, he is considered ...

in 2013. Humala had initial plans for a museum in

Peruvian Amazonia Peruvian Amazonia ( es, Amazonía del Perú) is the area of the Amazon rainforest included within the country of Peru, from east of the Andes to the borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises 60% of the country and ...

, though Álvarez Calderón urged him to dedicate a national museum to Peru first, with ideas of creating a National Museum of Peru. In May 2014, bidding for the project's design was announced, with architect Alexia León Ángel winning the competition. The plan involved filling the new museum with pieces from the

Museo de la Nación The Museo de la Nación (English: ''Museum of the Nation'') is one of two major museums of Peruvian history in Lima, Peru. It is much larger than the other main museum in Lima, the Peruvian National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology, and H ...

– the former Ministry of Fisheries headquarters from 1970 – and the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru, which was outdated and did not have proper equipment to maintain the temperature and lighting of displays. The process for safely transferring the items from other sites to the museum was anticipated to take about twenty years. Another area for more contemporary objects was also planned to fill the of space. By late-2017, planned areas for recreation and administration were removed to lower costs, with the seven-story, $125 million museum's area being set at . During the government of

Francisco Sagasti Francisco Rafael Sagasti Hochhausler OSP ( (); born 10 October 1944) is a Peruvian engineer, academic, and author who served as the President of Peru from November 2020 to July 2021. Sagasti has worked as an advisor for economic development a ...

, the Ministry of Culture announced in November 2020 that the museum was destined to open in July 2021 for the celebration of Peru's two-hundredth anniversary of independence.

Operation

In late July 2021, MUNA opened to the public with a limited display in four galleries. One gallery featured information about the museum's background and construction while another highlighted how Peru's antiquities and culture were exploited by illicit trade. MUNA is expected to be fully operational in 2024.

References

{{coord, -12.254254072811106, -76.910619590551, display=title History of Peru Inca Empire Museums in Peru

History

Planning and construction

Operation

See also

References