Larco Museum Museum

Address: Avenida Bolívar 1515, Pueblo Libre, Lima 21, Peru

Website: https://museolarco.org

Hours: Tue-Sun 9:00am-6:00pm, closed Mondays

Admission: Admission 30 PEN (~$8-10) adults; discounts for students and seniors (check museum site for current prices).

Museo Larco is a private archaeological museum in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima, Peru, with a comprehensive collection of pre-Columbian art and artifacts. The museum was established by Rafael Larco Hoyle and opened to the public in the 20th century as a centre for research and display.

Extensive museum galleries arrange pottery, textiles, and metalwork to illustrate cultural change across pre-Columbian Peru; the collection is notable for its scale and for specialist displays such as erotic ceramics. Visitors also see a restored vice-royal building that houses part of the collection and landscaped gardens that display outdoor exhibits.

Founded by archaeologist Rafael Larco Hoyle in the 1920s, the museum built a reputation for research and careful curation of pre-Hispanic material. Over the 20th century it expanded into a major public museum and research institution for Peruvian archaeology.

Located in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima, the museum is a short drive west of central Lima and is a standard stop for visitors studying Peru’s pre-Columbian cultures.

• Collection size: Houses a collection of more than 45,000 archaeological and pre-Columbian pieces spanning several millennia of Andean history.
• Highlights: Best known for its organized chronological displays and the museum’s widely cited collection of erotic ceramics from pre-Columbian cultures.

What to See#

• Chronological galleries: A series of chronological galleries that present pre-Columbian cultures from earliest ceramics through to late pre-Hispanic societies, arranged to show development over time.
• Gold and silver gallery: A permanent display of pre-Hispanic gold, silver and metalwork showing ritual and decorative objects from coastal and highland cultures.
• Erotic pottery gallery: A distinctive collection of Moche-era erotic ceramics exhibited as a continuous gallery and frequently highlighted in visitor guides.

Museo Larco is in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima. From central Lima, take a taxi or use ride-hailing (about 15-30 minutes depending on traffic). The nearest major roads are Avenida Bolívar and Ricardo Palma.

• Allow at least 90 minutes to two hours to explore the galleries-there are many delicate ceramics and textile displays.
• Photography is restricted in some galleries-look for signage.
• Visit the onsite café and the museum's garden for a calming pause after the galleries.