Museums

Possibly the best museum in Cusco is the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art. This contains many pieces from the Larco Herrera collection in Lima, focusing on the Inca and highland regions of Peru, with the pieces dating from 1250BC to 1532AD.

The Machu Picchu Museum, housed in the Casa Concha, contains pieces from Machu Picchu that had been moved by Hiram Bingham to Yale University upon the site’s initial discovery. These were returned to Peru in 2011 and the museum now displays 366 pieces. There are interesting photos and videos of Machu Picchu, although the artefacts are mostly of archaeological interest.

The Museo Inka also contains a fine archaeological collection from all over Peru. There is a very good section on the pre-Inca cultures in the Lake Titicaca and Cusco areas, and it has some exquisite Wari turquoise mini-sculptures found at Pikillaqta. The section on the Inca culture is very good, and there are some wonderful photos of Machu Picchu when it was first rediscovered.

The Museo Histórico Regional contains an interesting collection of Inca and pre-Inca ceramics, as well the world's most complete Glyptodonte skeleton. The museum is in the house where the Inca chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega was born, and the museum contains interesting information on his life.