Museo de Arte de Lima — Attraction in Lima Metropolitan Area

It's the best museum in terms of its range of collections. From the ancient right up-to the present including absurd avant-garde stuff. Excuse my manners, por favor! The ground floor has the modern offerings. The exhibit which struck me was the amazing collection of book covers of the books captured from the militant 'Shining Path' communist party leadership. The books covered an international range of nationalist and revolutionary leaders from all continents. It's staggers belief that such an intellectual grounding could lead to a steady deterioration from communist party politics, to terrorism and eventually to drug smuggling. The other one was of the Mexicans, Diego Rivera, Orozco and Sigueiros. Orozco's pen and ink captures the human condition in a way that I've never experienced. Go out of your way to check this out. Sorry no pics, I busy...

While I found the overall collection of pieces quite impressive and enjoyed browsing through the different epochs of Peruvian art history, I have to admit that the contemporary collection fell a bit short. The museum in itself offers great conditions for encountering the offered pieces of inspiration with an open mind and some peace and quiet, however this was not really possible during my stay. Next to the museum was going to be a concert, so they did several soundchecks (and so on) during the day. Since the windows were wide open, it was impossible to escape the noise. In addition, I was a bit bothered by employees watching videos/reels on their phone on full volume in the exhibition rooms. They didn't seem to respect the art...

Before going to Machu Picchu, you have three museums to choose from. Make no mistake you will miss out on context and culture if you don't go to the Larco Museum or this one.

As often happens, all of the artifacts at the actual archaeological site have been moved elsewhere, in this case Lima.

I booked a $20 private tour from museum guide Anna. A must do as she is warm, knowledgeable and passionate.

If you have time for only one museum choose the Larco (and have dinner there), but if you have time for two, add the del Arte. The archaeological museum, if not under renovation, is small and not of interest if going to Machu Picchu. It is a good museum to learn about Peruvian independence and San Martine and...